[ChuckMcM]

You only need this line: And our growth in listening and revenues during 2013 meant we no longer qualified as a Small Webcaster; instead of paying royalties calculated as a percentage of revenues — such that royalties grow as revenues grow, as one would expect — we now had to pay high per-play rates as a Large Webcaster, taking us out of profitability.

The music licensing structure is set up to kill anything above a certain size, period. What is worse is that there is no size at which you are in a position to change that structure and disintermediate the entrenched interests of the major labels.

[loceng]

I wonder if this is something the big players like or dislike - as it creates a certain economies of scale as a barrier to entry, but yes, as you say, you're still at the mercy of the major labels come license renewals. It's an industry that certainly is calling for regulation - it's killed off a number of promising companies that consumers loved, innovation and creation that should be supported and celebrated.

[nugget]

The article references the expiration of the Small Webcaster license and a casual web search seems to confirm this unfortunate news. I think it’s now exclusively a pay per stream model which is definitely a barrier to innovation.