After much lobbying and media coverage about the negative effect of higher royalty rates on small Internet radio broadcasters, SoundExchange put a halt on realizing the rates until a better deal could be worked out. It’s now being reported that SoundExchange will continue a discounted rate for small Internet radio broadcasters through 2010, giving them a couple more years to get a toehold before putting on the price brakes.

The new deal is that webcasters earning less than one and a quarter million dollars annually can agree to 10-12% annual royalty fees; they have until September 14th to accept the deal. However, some of these broadcasters are already rejecting the offer. They say that not only are the rates still too high, but also that SoundExchange is only making the offer as a means to “divide and conquer” the lobbying efforts of the small webcasters.