We dig into the Copyright Royalty Board’s decision on new royalty payments for internet radio, looking for clues about the future of small and medium-sized webcasters. In our final review of the 20th anniversary of the Telecom Act of 1996, Matthew Lasar explains how the Act and the political environment of the time affected community […]
Internet radio expert Kurt Hanson declared January 31 to be Sunday Bloody Sunday for the medium. Most significantly, that was the day that Live365 turned off 5000-some internet radio streams it hosted for broadcasters large and small. The shutdown comes after several other internet stations announced their closure, and countless more quietly went away. The […]
Small and medium sized internet-only radio broadcasters are facing a very immediate danger in 2016, due to changes in the performance rates that they are obligated to pay. Some estimates indicate that these fees may increase by as much as ten-fold, threatening to put hundreds, or even thousands of stations out of business. Paul digs […]
The new performance royalty rates that internet radio will pay artists and record labels were released on December 16 and many small and mid-sized internet-only broadcasters are now fearing they’ll be put out of business. While there was a modest increase on the fee paid for each song played, the bigger concern is what’s missing. […]
Live365 has sounded the alarm regarding the Copyright Royalty Board’s latest proposed copyright royalty rate schedule. Layoffs and worse are in the offering. The CRB’s latest tithes: (1) Commercial Webcasters: $0.0022 per performance for subscription services and $0.0017 per performance for nonsubscription services. (2) Noncommercial Webcasters: $500 per year for each channel or station and […]
The Copyright Royalty Board recently released two orders that affect community and college radio stations. The CRB sets the royalty rates that webcasters pay for the right to play recorded music. Royalties are paid to SoundExchange, a non-profit group that distributes payments to musicians and record labels. These payments only apply to online streaming broadcasts, […]
Last week, the D.C. Circuit of the United States Court of Appeals affirmed (see the full decision here) the Copyright Royalty Board (CRB)’s decision regarding the establishment of webcasting royalty rates, rejecting an appeal by college radio organization, the Intercollegiate Broadcasting System (IBS). These webcasting royalties are paid to musical performers who appear on the […]
College Broadcasters Inc. (CBI) has announced that it has reached a settlement with SoundExchange in regards to the fees paid by student webcasters. According to a press release from CBI, this tentative settlement will “freeze royalty payments for the next five years. It would also continue to allow student webcasters to continue to file proxy […]
The Copyright Royalty Board has released its rates for non-commercial educational (NCE) radio stations. As the CommLaw blog notes, the significant change for college stations is the “elimination of the one-size-fits-all flat fee approach which has historically been used.” Now tithes for 2013 through 2017 will be determined by the number of full time students at […]
With much fanfare and support, Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR) introduced his Internet Radio Fairness Act (S.3609) to the Senate Judiciary Committee in late September. The point of the proposed law is to give services like Pandora some performance royalty relief, by applying to them the same royalty paying standards applied to cable and satellite providers. […]
