[This post first appeared on the MusicTechPolicy blog]

by Chris Castle

The Copyright Royalty Board has announced its decision on webcasting rates under §114 for 2021-25 and it’s good news for non-featured artists, featured artists and sound recording copyright owners. The rates are set for 2021, paid retroactively to January 1. 

Service	New Rate Per Performance 2021	Old Rate Per Performance 2020	Increase
Commercial Nonsubscription	$0.0021	$0.0018	+17%
Commercial Subscription	$0.0026	$0.0024	+8%
Noncommercial Webcaster (Non-educational)	$1000 per station or channel up to 159,140 Aggregate Tuning Hours/month Overage at $0.0021 per performance	$500 per station or channel up to 159,140 Aggregate Tuning Hours/month. Overage at $0.0018 per performance	Per-station: +100% Overage: +17%

After 2022, these rates are adjusted by the Consumer Price Index (CPI-U for the geeks). 

The Copyright Royalty Judges shall adjust the royalty fees each year to reflect any changes occurring in the cost of living as determined by the most recent Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (U.S. City Average, all items) (CPI-U) published by the Secretary of Labor before December 1 of the preceding year.

So it is clear that the CRB can come up with reasonable rates when they’re asked. It’s also a great example of the power of strong bargaining groups including SoundExchange, the unions, indie and major record companies, and a broad cross-section of music users.

Rates for noncommercial educational webcasters, satellite radio, audio for business establishments and some others — are decided in a different process. Their 2021 rates for these service are on the SoundExchange website.