SoundExchange and NAB reached a deal this week on Internet streaming rates for local radio, saying the arrangement provides business certainty for stations, artists and copyright holders.
SoundExchange collects and distributes digital performance royalties for recording artists and sound recording copyright owners, usually a record label.
The agreement applies to stations that simulcast their broadcast programming over the Web as well as those stations that create stand-alone Internet stations; it apparently settles the royalty dispute that arose from the 2007 Copyright Royalty Board decision.
The new agreement keeps the per-performance rate structure but reduces the rates set by the Copyright Royalty Board for 2009 and 2010 by about 16 percent and establishes rates for 2011–2015. This year’s rate is $0.0015 per streamed recording, moving up to $0.0025 in 2015. The CRB rates were $0.0018 for 2009 and $0.0019 for 2010.
NAB also reached separate agreements with individual record label groups that waive certain statutory format restrictions. An example would be allowing certain artists to be played more often during a four hour period.
However, there’s no royalty deal between the NAB and SoundExchange for on-air broadcasts.
CPB and SoundExchange also recently completed a streaming royalty deal for public radio broadcasters.
