XM Royalty Fee???
 

Not sure if you guys got this or not. I just received an email about the rate increase.

"Thank you for being an XM subscriber. We are dedicated to providing our subscribers with the best programming and listener experience available on radio today. As part of this commitment, we have an important update regarding your XM subscription.

Music royalty rights were established by the U.S. Congress as part of the Copyright Act. This Act requires payment of copyright music royalties to recording artists, musicians and recording companies who hold copyrights in sound recordings.

These royalties have recently increased dramatically, principally as a result of a decision made by the Copyright Royalty Board, which is designated by the Library of Congress to set royalty rates for sound recordings. Beginning on July 29, 2009, a “U.S. Music Royalty Fee” of $1.98/month* for primary subscriptions and $.97/month* for multi-receiver subscriptions will be effective upon your next renewal. This fee will be used directly to offset increased payments from XM to the recording industry.

Unfortunately, we cannot control the Copyright Royalty Board's rate increase, but we can offer you ways to save on your subscription. The longer your subscription, the more you save!"

Why do we the subscriber have to pay this? I don't even think this should even exist. Its not like OTA radio is going to charge for this since its FREE. Doesn't make sense. Sounds like just an excuse to charge more. Oh well, its still better than OTA radio even though you have to pay for it.

I'll stick with FM radio...lol

Didn't bother to renew XM

FM/AM radio gets by this with advertisements and endorsement, though Sirius/XM should not be passing this along seeing as you are already paying customers (and I hear they are adding some advertisements in or something?).

When I was signing up with SIRIUS last week, they told me that my "Royalty Fee" will be waived if I sign up for 3 month plan. (Payment every 3 months). If I were to sign up for a monthly subscription, I would have to pay "Royalty Fee".

At least with sat radio I can always find a station that is playing music and don't have to constantly flip through to find a station that is playing music instead of ads like I do using FM. Sirius/XM has a few stations that play ads but its not too often though, I usually just go to another station.

Thank the RIAA, the worst cartel in the world IMO. They just got a multi million dollar judgement against a lady in MN for downloading a few songs.

Eff em.

I have portabile radio for Sirius in my home and truck. The Z has the XM in it. Does anyone know if there's a box or something to pick up sirius instead of XM. I don't want to have two different accounts.

those guys still call me up after i already said like 10 times that i don't need the service.

I was listening to a rock station today and they put in two commercials. I went into a rage. They will have to knock money off to keep me as a member.