Internet radio broadcasters across the United States are holding a "day of silence" on Tuesday to protest plans to raise royalty payments for music played online.

The protest comes in response to a Copyright Board Panel decision made in March upholding an increase in royalty fees collected from web broadcasters from 0.007 cents per song per listener to 0.019 cents, an increase of just over 170 per cent.

The increase is expected to take place on July 15 and will be retroactive to early 2006, meaning online broadcasters will have to pay back fees for any songs played in the last 12 months, which internet broadcasters say will be a deathblow to the industry.

"Webcasters of every size and from every corner of the country will stand united … to protest a very real and fast approaching threat to their livelihood,” said Jake Ward, a spokesperson for the SaveNetRadio Coalition, the group representing web broadcasters such as Yahoo, MTV online and National Public Radio, as well as thousands of smaller, independant stations.

The new fees, which will apply until 2010, charge a $500 US fee for every channel owned by the station, plus the flat per song, per user fee.

The rules governing Canadian internet radio are still being debated, with the Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada proposing a payment model based on gross revenues to the Copyright Board of Canada in April.

SoundExchange, the group that represents large and independant record labels and collects the fees from the stations, said in a statement that large online content providers such as Yahoo and Viacom, which owns MTV online, will be able to afford the new rates.

As for the smaller stations, SoundExchange said it has offered a cheaper rate schedule through 2010.

"Artists and labels are offering a below-market rate to subsidize small webcasters because Congress has made it clear that this is a policy it desires to advance, at least for the next few years," said SoundExchange executive director John Simson in a statement.