Washington – The Copyright Royalty Board (CRB) this week
issued its decision on what royalty rates webcasters will pay rightsholders for
streaming music online for the 2011-2015 period.
The CRB suggested rates —
which must still be approved by Congress — are $0.0019 per performance in
2011, $0.0021 per performance in 2012 and 2013, and $0.0023 in 2014-15.
It should be noted that these rates affect only webcasters without
deals already in place, and will not supersede rates already negotiated by Pandora,
public radio stations and others.
The Digital Media Association (DiMA), a group
representing the interests of larger webcasters, gave the rates a mixed review.
"DiMA and our member companies are pleased that the Copyright Royalty
Board did not adopt the extremely high rates proposed by SoundExchange,"
interim executive director Lee Knife said.
"We remain dissatisfied with
the process used for setting Internet radio royalty rates, which are by law
based on marketplace deals… We are hopeful that in 2011 Congress will address
problems in the rate-setting structure, and ultimately develop a system that
enables all music radio services — internet, cable and satellite — to operate
and pay royalties according to the same standard, applied under a fair set of
rules."
Related Links:
http://tinyurl.com/27u4ams
(PDF: CRB rates)
http://tinyurl.com/24jswsm
(DiMA statement)
