The Copyright Royalty Board, the trio of judges that sets the terms for U.S. copyright licenses, have decided to raise royalty rates for streaming music services.
CRB judges yesterday delivered their decision to the Register of Copyrights for review, which sets streaming music royalty rates for the next five years.
According to a statement released yesterday by the CRB, the new rates for commercial subscription services will be $0.0022 per-performance, or 22 cents for every 100 streams. The rate for commercial non-subscription services will be $0.0017 per-performance. Those rates go into effect at the beginning of 2016.
The new rates do not affect streaming services such as Spotify and Apple Music, which negotiate directly with record labels. Interactive radio station Pandora, however, which pays licensing fees to performing rights agencies like BMI, ASCAP, and SESAC, is subject to the CRB’s royalty rates.
Pandora — which current pays a rate of $0.0014 per-performance for its ad-supported platform and $0.0025 per-performance for its subscription service — would see 21 percent higher licensing fees as a result of yesterday's CRB decision.
Oakland, CA-based Pandora, which bought live events company Ticketfly in October for $450 million, boasts about 80 million monthly listeners and holds a 70 percent share of the U.S. Internet radio market.
Pandora in October posted disappointing third-quarter revenues, causing share prices to plummet.
Pandora CEO Brian McAndrews, in a statement to investors yesterday, called the Copyright Royalty Board decision “a balanced rate that we can work with and grow from."
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