The Copyright Royalty Board has announced that noncommercial webcasters must pay a $500 per channel annual minimum fee to perform copyrighted sound recordings during the 2006-2010 rate term. Big deal? Not really. But . . .… Continue Reading
Another piece of the ongoing ASCAP/BMI ratemaking puzzle has fallen into place - at least for a while: in late June the good folks at the Radio Music License Committee announced a final interim deal with BMI,… Continue Reading
A judge has superseded the interim royalty rates negotiated by ASCAP and the RMLC earlier this year. The result should please broadcasters, at least for the time being.… Continue Reading
For the upcoming 2011-2015 webcasting royalty term, the CRB is looking to impose overall terms and conditions identical to those reached in privately-negotiated settlement agreements developed in 2009.… Continue Reading
As expected, the Copyright Royalty Board has reinstated the $500 per channel annual minimum fee for both commercial and noncommercial webcasters.… Continue Reading
Attention, all commercial webcasters -- January 31 is the deadline for filing the first of what will be many Statements of Account to SoundExchange, along with payment of copyright royalties for performance of sound recordings over the Internet during 2010.… Continue Reading
The Copyright Royalty Board has proposed -- again -- to impose a $500 annual payment requirement for non-interactive webcasters. If you want to comment on the proposal, you have until January 22.… Continue Reading
Now that we've turned the corner into the New Year, there's even more reason for broadcasters to look into signing up with the Radio Music License Committee..… Continue Reading
Some radio broadcasters might have received letters recently -- from RMLC, ASCAP or BMI -- about negotiations for music licensing arrangements to replace the existing ASCAP/BMI deal which expires at year's end. Let's shed some light on the situation.… Continue Reading
After years of proposals and deliberations and interim policies, the Copyright Royalty Board has published "final rules" dictating the playlist reporting requirements for webcasters. But the "new" rules may be of little more than academic interest to many.… Continue Reading
"Interactive". For webcasters, it's a word that makes a huge difference. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit has recently become the first U.S. appellate court to consider, and shed definitive light on, the meaning of "interactive" in the context of webcasting.… Continue Reading
Last week we reported that SoundExchange had reached a couple of agreements affecting non-CPB noncommercial webcasters. The terms of those agreements have now been published in the Federal Register. Read all about them here.… Continue Reading
The mystery of the fourth SoundExchange settlement agreement has been solved. That agreement is with the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), and it extends through 2015 (with some tweaks) the terms of the SoundExchange/CPB agreement reached months ago.… Continue Reading
Last month we referred to the "pureplay" settlement as the "final piece" of the webcasting puzzle. Our bad. Turns out there were more settlements - four separate ones, to be exact - still to be completed.… Continue Reading
The D.C. Circuit has (with one minor exception) affirmed the 2007 webcasting royalty decision of the Copyright Royalty Judges, AFTER the private parties affected by the royalty decision had worked out various deals largely circumventing the CRJ decision. And for the second time in two weeks, the Court has mentioned, without resolving, serious questions about the constitutionality of the CRJs.… Continue Reading
It's only been a few weeks since the Webcaster Settlement Act was enacted and already it's working! A settlement agreement reached under that Act covers webcast royalty rates for "pureplay" webcasters for the years 2006-2015.… Continue Reading
As previously reported, a number of public radio entities settled with SoundExchange regarding the payment of royalties and filing of certain information regarding songs played over the Internet for the years 2006-2010, We've got a little more information now on who these stations will be dealing with.… Continue Reading
We wrote a couple weeks ago about a patent infringement lawsuit filed against several major radio broadcasters for their unauthorized use of software that allows them to replace over-the-air advertisements with webcast-specific ads. Here's an interesting take on the same case by Jerry Del Colliano.… Continue Reading
Radio stations that stream their content onto the Internet will want to keep an eye on a patent lawsuit accusing several major radio companies of patent infringement. The defendants allegedly substituted Internet-friendly content in place of more locally-oriented content that went out over the air, using methods for which the plaintiff supposedly holds a patent.… Continue Reading
The Copyright Royalty Board has issued a Notice of Inquiry as part of the current proceeding in which it proposes to increase the frequency of filing playlists with SoundExchange, Inc.… Continue Reading
We've created a handy step by step, we question/you answer format to figure out your options in light of SoundExchange/NAB and SoundExchange/CPB agreements that were made effective with publication in the Federal Register on March 3, 2009. Check it out.… Continue Reading
The National Association of Broadcasters ("NAB") and SoundExchange, the designated "receiving agent" that collects and distributes copyright royalties paid as part of the statutory license applicable to webcasting, have announced a settlement under the "Webcaster Settlement Act" which sets the royalty rates to be paid by broadcasters streaming music on the Internet during the years 2009-2010.… Continue Reading
This is a last reminder that both commercial and noncommercial webcasters must file a $ 500 annual minimum royalty fee payment with SoundExchange, Inc. by January 31, 2009 for each channel being streamed.… Continue Reading
