Explaining the Basics of the CRB Webcasting Royalty Decision – An Audio Discussion

Earlier today, Triton Digital’s President for Market Development John Rosso and I discussed the new webcasting royalty rates adopted last week by the Copyright Royalty Board to cover the sound recording performance royalty for 2016-2020.  You can listen to that conversation discussing the basics of that decision here.  John and I discuss what rights the royalty covers, which services can rely on the royalty for their music rights, some of the requirements of the royalty, and the rates themselves. Further information about the decision is available in our article summarizing the CRB’s decision as to the rates and terms that was released last week, here, and the next steps in the process were outlined in our article here.  In the next few weeks, as the CRB’s decision explaining its reasoning is made public, we’ll provide a summary, and highlight new issues as they arise as interested parties review and digest the new rates.

One important point that we discussed in the webcast this afternoon, and which bears repeating, is that these royalties do apply to broadcaster simulcasts.  For some reason, I have seen trade press reports which indicate that they do not, and I have had questions from broadcasters implying the same thing.  Broadcasters who stream music on the Internet, even a full simulcast of their over-the-air broadcasts, should be paying SoundExchange now for the public performance of the sound recordings that they stream.  They will continue to do so, at a lower rate, when these new rates become effective in January.  As we explained in our article last week, simulcasters have been paying at the rate of $.0025 per performance in 2015, and for advertising-supported simulcasts, that rate will fall to $.0017 in 2016.

Watch for more on the CRB royalties as issues develop over the next few weeks.