In my previous update, I told you that the new royalty rates for 2016 didn’t include a small webcaster’s agreement, effectively pricing us out of the industry.

Although much is still up in the air, I wanted to update with what I know now.

First, negotiations continue behind the scenes to get SoundExchange to agree to a reasonable rate which will allow BlackLight Radio and thousands of other webcasters to continue streaming. While they have NOT yet agreed to anything, the negotiations are ongoing and may be be weeks or months away from a workable resolution.

In the meantime, we are waiting to hear what our licensing provider will charge us moving in to 2016. My expectation is that it will be a hefty increase, but perhaps not so great that we cannot afford it. We should find this out next week, and, if there is any way Cindy & I can afford it, we will continue streaming just as we are right now, into 2016 until negotiations are completed at least.

If, however, the rate given us next week is completely out of reach, we will begin to look in to streaming with another company called Radionomy. They have an app, and provide streaming links to many of the major directories like iTunes, TuneIn, etc. While the “behind the scenes” link would change, as long as you are starting at this page you should always be able to listen.

Where could this go wrong?

• The rates with our current provider could be out of our reach.




• The rates with our current provider could be workable, but SoundExchange could refuse to negotiate a reasonable price and we could be down in January, or February, or March.




• We could try to go to Radionomy, but they could have changed their rules to stream for 2016.




• We could go to Radionomy, but (believe it or not) not have enough listeners and get kicked from the service. (Yes, you have to keep a certain sized audience for them to keep you streaming with them.)




• We could go to Radionomy but their business model could fail and they could go under.

…Then again, a meteor could crash through the roof right now, killing me and taking out the BlackLight Radio server. It COULD happen, but honestly I believe we will be able to find a way to keep streaming into the new year.

TL;DR — BlackLight Radio is not likely to shut down at midnight new years eve.

More updates as they become available… and merry Christmas!