Thousands of Internet radio providers that silenced their audio streams Tuesday to draw attention to a recently proposed hike in music royalties got what they wanted -- an outpouring of support from listeners. The online advocacy platform that lets visitors to the grassroots group SaveNetRadio access contact information for their congressmen could barely handle the flood of hits received.

According to a SaveNetRadio spokesman, Web traffic reported by Capitol Advantage's Capwiz program by late morning was "far more" than the back-end service provider had ever experienced in a single day. The firm reportedly was "diverting all the resources they have to handle this traffic," the official said.

Capwiz is considered one of the most robust Web-based advocacy services in Washington and works with about 1,500 organizations. "It's definitely the highest traffic we've seen in a long time for any sort of single issue," said Mark West of Capitol Advantage.