SoundExchange and the public radio networks have received approval from the Copyright Royalty Board for their royalty settlement. NPR and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting reached a settlement with SoundExchange in March for a 17% music licensing rate increase for the 2016-2020 period. CRB still needs to approve the part of the settlement that dubs the public radio sector a collective entity, a decision which is not expected until after it has settled rates for all webcasters. (That process is still underway, with the CRB seeking some additional insight from the U.S. Copyright Office to guide its decisions.)

Since non-commercial webcasters can have a differently structured rate than commercial ones, public radio was able to directly negotiate this rate plan with SoundExchange. In addition to the licensing rate increase, NPR will see an increase in the number of stations delivering census reporting to SoundExchange. The deal also sees each public radio station paying a $500 minimum royalty. RAIN News covered more details of the deal in April.