From the New Zealand Herald: "Like a sleeping giant, Internet radio is quietly attracting more and more listeners and advertising dollars, leading some experts to predict that some day soon it will eclipse the popularity of satellite radio and iPods.

"Already, ratings company Arbitron says, some 37 million Americans tune into Internet radio at least once a month, up from 11 million four years ago.

"With its growing audience, it could start to take a bigger bite of the $11 billion spent annually on online advertising. Nevertheless, Internet radio faces hurdles, say proponents, because digital copyright laws make it less viable than rivals.

"'The growth potential is huge but there are significant challenges. The record industry is doing their best to keep Internet radio in a box,' said Jonathan Potter [pictured right], executive director of the Digital Media Association. Instead, he said, the music producers 'should be working on ways to enable it' to capture a paid audience for recording artists.

"Potter's group has been pressing Congress for years to update copyright laws that require Web radio companies to pay royalties to record labels...

"Steve Marks [pictured left], general counsel of the Recording Industry Association of America, says record companies have embraced Internet radio by offering an easy way to get licenses to use its content.

"But he said the trade group was disappointed that some Web radio companies have failed to respect the rights of artists.

"'Internet radio companies should stop facilitating piracy and adopt secure streaming formats today,' he said.

"Still, entrepreneurs have found legitimate ways to overcome the barriers, and are now moving Web radio forward, fueled by views that wireless broadband will turn it into a 'killer application.' They are set to put it onto cellphones, MP3 players and other devices beginning as soon as late 2005...

"Some Web radio operators, like Mercora... have already found ways around Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) restrictions...

"'DMCA prohibits timeshifting of DMCA webcasts in the U.S., but you can timeshift everything you hear from our Canadian networks, which are registered in Canada where rules don't prevent listeners from timeshifting..." Srivats Sampath, chief executive officer of Mercora, which enables listeners to... record streamed programming so they can play it back later, which is prohibited on U.S. Webcasts...

"Ando Media provides a product called Webcast Metrics, which tracks Web radio usage across 500 independent stations including AccuRadio, Air America Radio and Radioio and then sells that data to advertisers.

"'Internet radio represents one of the biggest untapped audiences -- daytime primetime,' said Jordan Mendell [pictured right], chief technology officer for Ando, noting that most Web radio listening occurs during the workday at offices...

"'Internet radio fills in the gap between drop-off and the drive home,' he said."

Read this entire story online in the New Zealand Herald here.

"Ralph Bernard said paid-for radio could be established within five years. GCap is examining whether a subscription service would work...

"Mr. Bernard warned that the provision of advertising-free broadcasting by the BBC, with 54% of the UK radio market, could limit subscription radio's growth: 'It works there [the US] because there is no BBC.' At an industry seminar on digital radio, he said broadcasters could compete more efficiently with the BBC by taking heed of listeners' concerns over advertising breaks interrupting shows...

"US broadcasters Sirius and XM offer 100 commercial-free channels at $12.95 (£7) a month. SES Global, the world's largest satellite broadcaster, is looking into a European subscription radio network which would require a new satellite, costing €500m (£344m)."

Read this entire Guardian article online here.