Perspective: If regular broadcast radio stations were required to pay the same royalty rate that the CARP (Copyright Arbitration Royalty Panels) has proposed for Webcasters, what would they have to pay per year?
In the US broadcast radio has an audience (Mon-Sun 6A-12M) of about 40,000,000 people. I believe about 75% of those people are listening to music stations as opposed to news and talk. At 18 hours per day, 365 days per year, and 12 songs per hour, that's 2.365 trillion songs per year (not even counting overnights).
At CARP's recommended rate for Webcasts of $.0014 per song, that would add up to an annual royalty payment from radio to the RIAA of $3.3 billion!
+ $3,299,999,999.08