Well, LAUNCHcast survived one big challenge earlier this year when Yahoo won a lawsuit filed against us in 2001.

Now, the organization that sets the rates broadcasters pay has gone overboard. They’ve gotten approval for a huge rate hike that will effectively mean the end of radio online. Really.

First, they want broadcasters to pay $500 for each station. If you set up “your” station on LAUNCHcast, Yahoo would have to pay $500. Not only is this ridiculous, it would kill any sort of customized radio.

Second the rates broadcasters pay for each song would be raised dramatically, more than satellite radio or terrestrial radio. Ian explains the whole sorted history.

If this happens, it would literally set online radio back 10 years. What you’d be left with is each broadcaster creating a small number of stations that play the same music over and over again unless you want to pay a monthly subscription. Most people won’t. You might just as well turn your FM radio. Ironically, the record labels get paid nothing when FM radio plays their music, so the whole thing could backfire on them.

To bring attention to this, pretty much every online broadcaster will be shutting down tomorrow in protest. So tell your friends and visit SaveNetRadio.org to see what else you can do. If LAUNCHcast goes away… well, I will be very sad. It was a lot of work.