The debate between the RIAA and internet webcasters simmered for many months, but has recently been reheated and will soon boil over. The battle has raged intensely over the past several years as the music industry and webcasters tried to hash out an agreement over royalty rates that wouldn't obliterate small webcasters in the process.

The battle brought together a wide variety of personalities, all of whom had their own solution to the problem. Jessie Helms, motivated by his desire to assist small conservative Christian Internet broadcasters in particular, become an unlikely hero to web radio fans and broadcasters alike when he proposed the Small Webcasters Settlement Act (SWSA); though it ultimately didn't smooth the waters.

Webcasters were perhaps irrevocably harmed by the lack of a unified front in their negotiations. Originally, the media reported that a deal which had been reached between webcasters and the RIAA was a pleasant, all inclusive, snuggly sort of affair. It was The Register that first pointed out that bill HR.5469 was a closed door settlement between the RIAA and a splinter organization (Voice of Webcasters, or VOW), who solely represented the largest webcasters.

The deal wound up doing nothing for education, religious, non-profit, hobbyist, and college radio, the organizations most impacted by the newly agreed upon (and still rather steep) rates. After reporting that all was not well in webcasting land, The Register received some critical responses from Vow, who called their report "laughable", and "pure fantasy".

The end product of the backroom deal was ample disgust among many broadcasters and the subsequent creation of the Webcaster Alliance, who last week announced they'd be pursuing legal action against the RIAA if the organization wasn't willing to negotiate more reasonable rates.

Perry Narancic, attorney for the Webcaster Alliance, argues that the RIAA may have run afoul of the Sherman Antitrust Act, and puts his opinions quite succinctly in the Register's latest exploration of the rate negotiaion pugilism:

"We believe RIAA and members control 85 to 90 per cent of the dominant market for music. They're seeking to eliminate a distribution channel that is absolutely vital to competing music from independents," he argues. "Music has a very difficult time getting exposure through traditional means. And yet the regulatory barriers are very low - Internet radio is a great way to distribute music in a convenient fashion."