Internet radio saved (again, maybe for good this time, hopefully)
The neverending saga of Internet radio and royalty fees has reached a (yet another) milestone as the recording industry and radio stations reached a compromise agreement on royalties.
The new per-song rates start at 0.08 of a cent per listener for each song played and rise to 0.14 of a cent in 2015, when the agreement ends. The rates set in 2007 by the Copyright Royalty Board started at 0.0762 of a cent but more than double to 0.19 of a cent by 2010. Under the new agreement, large webcasters pay whichever is greater — the per-song fee or the percentage of revenue. Smaller commercial webcasters — those with $1.25 million or less in total revenue — would pay between 10% and 14% of their sales or 7% of their expenses, whichever is greater.
Of course those entities that have other business models than just streaming music are not excited about turning over a percentage of their overall revenues, but some groups like Pandora have hailed the agreement as literally saving their businesses.
Next up in the recording industry’s crosshairs–terrestrial radio stations that do not pay a royalty on the music they broadcast over the air. Expect some legislation on that in the next few years…
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