The January 31 deadline for payment of annual minimum fees and filing of election notices is fast approaching
This the first, last, and, possibly, only reminder to all commercial webcasters that January 31 is the deadline for filing the first of what will be many Statements of Account to SoundExchange with payment of copyright royalties for performance of sound recordings over the Internet during 2010. For some of you, there is a concurrent requirement to file a Notice of Election to obtain or retain the special status offered under one of the many webcasting settlement agreements.
If you are a noncommercial webcaster (determined not by your FCC license but by whether the webcasting entity is exempt from taxation under Section 501 of the Internal Revenue Code), click here for a similar guide laying out your deadlines.
Set forth below is a summary of the immediate and ongoing obligations for every commercial webcaster in 2010. And guess what? It’s now in 3D! On Ice! Well, not exactly, but we do offer a direct link to every form as it appears on the SoundExchange website.
A. Commercial Webcasters Who Have NOT Elected to Participate in the Webcaster Settlement Agreement Between the NAB and SoundExchange (or any other potentially applicable settlement agreement):
If you (a) are a commercial webcaster and (b) either are not eligible for or have chosen not to participate in the settlement agreement between the National Association of Broadcasters and SoundExchange, then you are still governed by the March, 2007 decision of the Copyright Royalty Board. You must:
File your annual minimum fee of $500 per channel by January 31, 2010 using the 2010 Commercial Webcaster Annual Minimum Statement of Account form found here; AND
File annual fees calculated using the per performance rate of $0.0019 for 2010 and using the 2010 Commercial Webcaster Monthly Usage Statement of Account form found here; AND
File playlist reports of use on a monthly basis.
B. Commercial Broadcasters Who HAVE Elected to Participate in the Webcaster Settlement Agreement Between the NAB and SoundExchange:
Commercial webcasters who are simulcasting an over-the-air signal are eligible to participate in the Webcaster Settlement Agreement between the National Association of Broadcasters and SoundExchange. However, eligibility rests on whether you elected to participate by April 2, 2009. If you did not file this election form, you canNOT now choose to participate in this settlement agreement; instead, you must follow the procedures set forth in Section A, above.
If you did make the proper election before September 15, 2009, you must:
File your annual minimum fee of $500 per channel by January 31, 2010 using the 2010 Broadcaster Annual Minimum Statement of Account form found here; AND
File annual fees calculated using the per performance rate of $0.0016 for 2010 and using the 2010 Broadcaster Monthly Usage Statement of Account form found here; AND
File playlist reports of use on a monthly basis.
C. SMALL Commercial Broadcasters Who HAVE Elected to Participate in the Webcaster Settlement Agreement Between the NAB and SoundExchange:
A select few broadcasters who are simulcasting on the web also qualify as “Small Commercial Broadcasters” and are exempt from filing playlist reports of use. These broadcasters elected to participate in the agreement between the NAB and SoundExchange and had fewer than 27,777 aggregate tuning hours in the previous year. These Small Commercial Broadcasters have one additional step to complete before January 31 but, as we have already noted, will save a lot of time in the future because they do not have to file playlist reports of use on a monthly or even quarterly basis. They must:
File your annual minimum fee of $ 500 per channel by January 31, 2010 using the 2010 Small Broadcaster Annual Minimum Statement of Account form found here; AND
File an additional $ 100 "proxy fee" in exchange for the exemption from playlist reporting obligations, which occurs with the filing of the "Notice of Election" form found here; AND
File a 2010 Small Broadcaster Monthly Usage Statement of Account form found here. By definition, a station with fewer than 27,777 aggregate tuning hours will never have its cumulative royalties for the year exceed $ 500, but you must file this form certifying your listenership and marking a “zero” in the line indicating how much to be paid that month.
Again, these forms and payments are due by January 31, 2010. Because that is a Sunday, SoundExchange will accept the forms on Monday, February 1, 2010. However, you canNOT electronically file these forms and there is a penalty for late payment (or worse consequences, for late-filing a Notice of Election), so we suggest you get started now. Please do not hesitate to contact a Fletcher, Heald & Hildreth, P.L.C. attorney if you have any questions.
