In tomorrow’s Federal Register, the Copyright Royalty Board will announce the commencement of three new proceedings to set music royalties for the 2018-2022 five-year period, each involving a different music right. Continue Reading
Live365, one of the most venerable brands in this industry, is affected by shifting regulations that change the cost of music on January. In addition, the company’s investors have pulled support from the company, forcing an immediate financial crisis. RAIN News has learned that as a result, nearly the entire staff was laid off this week. Continue Reading
Unsettled issues are flowing into the industry mindspace following the Copyright Royalty Board (CRB) ruling of new webcast royalty rates to labels on December 16. Broadcast law attorney David Oxenford untangles what the issues mean to broadcasters and small webcasters. Continue Reading
Small webcasters feel left out. The music licensing terms under which they have been operating since 2006 are about to expire. Countless small businesses, many of them streaming unique programming in specialized music categories, could shut down this week. Owners of independent streaming stations who have contacted RAIN News have expressed dismay, fury, and guarded hope that the omission of a carve-out for small webcasting represents a delayed announcement that could still arrive in time. Continue Reading
Intellectual property attorney Angus MacDonald was the first to calculate that Pandora paid more than half of all SoundExchange collections of royalties to record labels. At that time he spoke of implications for the Webcasting IV process which ended this week with new webcaster rates for 2016. We asked MacDonald for his thoughts about the ruling, and he sent us his analysis. Continue Reading
Triton Digital will host broadcast law attorney David Oxenford in an interactive webinar on Monday, December 21, at 3pm. Titled The New Streaming Music Rates; Everything You Need to Know, the 30-minute session will include an interview with Oxenford on key points of this week’s CRB rate ruling. Continue Reading
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The weekly update of the streaming audio industry, from RAIN News. THIS WEEK: The U.S. Copyright Royalty Board delivers new webcaster royalty rates for payments to record labels. Also, Vivendi takes a majority stake in Radionomy’s online radio platform. Continue Reading
While Pandora, iHeartMedia, and the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) are content with new CRB rates, the royalty ruling puts smaller streamers on shaky ground, we’ve heard from several sources. Click for comments by Rusty Hodge, Kurt Hanson, Brian McAndrews, and David Porter. Continue Reading
In an open conference call that was bumped back three hours by a late-day release of webcaster rates by the Copyright Royalty Board (CRB), Pandora addressed the new rates and answered investor questions about the business going forward. Continue Reading
If it’s difficult to identify winners and losers in the new CRB webcaster rates, the official comments emanating from three major participants tell a story: Major webcasters OK with it; music industry not. Continue Reading
The Copyright Royalty Board (CRB) unsurprisingly took a middle road, treading a line between the $.0011 that Pandora requested, and the $.0025 that SoundExchange argued for on behalf of music rights-holders. P stock shot upward in after-hours. The company scheduled a conference call for later this evening. Continue Reading
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. Pandora’s rate: $.0017 per stream for non-subscribing listeners. SoundExchange wanted that number to be $.0025. Continue Reading