Radio site boosts charges to Webcasters

Online radio site Live365 is boosting its fees for small Webcasters who use its aggregation service. Citing new costs imposed by federal Webcasting royalties and a decline in advertising revenue, it will start charging all Webcasters an extra $5 a month beginning this month.

The company is also starting a subscription service in which listeners can pay $4.95 a month to hear streams of music from Webcasters who don't want to pay the $5 a month fee. The new "Preferred Membership" will also let Live365 visitors surf the site without advertisements.