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
SoundExchange released its third-quarter figures for payments made and received from digital radio. The rights manager paid out $204 million in the quarter to 87,219 payees. The timing of this release is pointed, as today the Copyright Royalty Board is slated to release its decision on the statutory royalty rates to be paid by non-interactive streaming platforms during 2016-2020. Pandora is one of the bigger players to be impacted by this ruling, but SoundExchange has just as much on the line. Continue Reading
The Copyright Royalty Board (CRB) will finalize the Webcaster IV proceeding today. Here’s the background, the players, and what’s at stake.
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One aspect of the music licensing ruling expected from the Copyright Royalty Board (CRB) has been delivered, as an answer from the Register of Copyrights to a question posed by the CRB. The question? Whether webcasters could pay different royalty rates to major labels and non-major labels. Continue Reading
SoundExchange and the public radio networks have received approval from the Copyright Royalty Board for their royalty settlement. 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. Continue Reading
SoundExchange announced that it has surpassed $3 billion in digital royalties paid to recording artists and labels since 2003. Last year, the organization issued payments of $773 million, representing about 16% of total revenue from the entire U.S. recorded music industry. Continue Reading
David Byrne joined SoundExchange as a board member back in May, and today he put his star power to work on the Capitol Hill. He joined SoundExchange CEO Michael Huppe in a meeting with Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.), a co-sponsor of the Fair Play, Fair Pay Act. Continue Reading
Brief news items and worthy reads from around the web. Today, SoundExchange CEO Michael Huppe responds to a column in The Hill. Should music licensing costs to Internet radio be escalated or decreased? Continue Reading
SoundExchange announced that David Byrne has joined its board of directors. Byrne fills the board spot previously held by Walter McDonough. He is the singer/songwriter who fronted the Talking Heads, and also embarked on a solo career and founded a label. Continue Reading
Although thousands of pages of legal arguments and rebuttals have been submitted over several months, today marks the start of a five-week process at the heart of Webcasting IV — the in-person litigation of U.S. music licensing rates for the 2016-2020 royalty period. Continue Reading
As we reported on March 17, SoundExchange and National Public Radio (NPR) reached an agreement for webcast music licensing in the 2016-2020 royalty period. NPR agreed to increase the number of stations providing detailed census reporting of the music they play in webcasts. We spoke to Rusty Hodge of SomaFM about whether those reports are difficult to produce. Continue Reading
SoundExchange has filed a lawsuit against Muzak on charges that it is underpaying artists. The suit alleges that Muzak, a subsidiary of Mood Media Corporation, has used outdated music-licensing regulations to pay for recordings at below-market rates. Continue Reading