CRB Rate Ruling: $.0017 for Pandora et al, SoundExchange wanted $.0025

At 5:15 Eastern U.S. time, the Copyright Royalty Board released the outline of its Webcaster IV ruling, setting royalty rates paid by Internet radio to music labels for the 2016-2020.

The headline number: $.0017 — that is Pandora’s payment number, per stream, for music owned by any artist or label that does not have a private agreement with Pandora. During this year’s litigation, SoundExchange, arguing for record labels, requested $.0025.

There is something new in the CRB process this time: no rates set for 2017, 2018, 2019, and 2020. Instead, the CRB will tie those rates to the Consumer Price Index. With inflation currently running low, that implies stable rates.

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