SWCast's website has been down for nearly a week after experiencing "technical difficulties" with their servers. But a new claim has been released by several different sources today after a mass email was sent to SWCast customers about the current situation.

SWCast quoted on their Twitter Page that due to ongoing routing issues within their service provider's data center, they are migrating to their redundant server. New claims on Winamp Forums and Loudcity Forums are telling a different story though. An email has apparently been sent to SWCast customers explaining what the real situation is and why SWCast is currently unavailable.

"This is a courtesy notice provided to you by SoundExchange regarding the current compliance status of your webcasting station ... We write to you regarding your webcasting service that has been made available through SWCast.net.  SWCast purports to be an Internet radio service for small webcasters and a “provider of blanket music licensing and enhancement services” for online radio stations.  As part of its services, SWCast offers a so-called “Joint Performance Licensing Program” ... SWCast, however, does not provide the promised services."

Despite SWCast's claims, it has completely failed to abide by its obligations under the statutory license, did not pay anything to SoundExchange for years, and has not even attempted to make any payment to SoundExchange for any period after 2005.  SWCast has also never provided the reports of use that are clearly required by the statutory license required by SoundExchange.

If you wish to rely on the statutory license for your webcasting service going forward, you may decide to submit royalty payments directly to SoundExchange, or you may choose a different third party to submit such materials and payments to SoundExchange on your behalf. SoundExchange is asking customers of SWCast to let them know by May 6, 2011  how you intend to proceed with your royalty payments.  For more information, log on to SoundExchange’s web site at www.soundexchange.com/service-provider/how-do-i-pay/.

Broadcasting World is awaiting further information from SoundExchange and SWCast on this issue.