SoundExchange Offers Internet Radio a Deal

July 5th, 2007

SoundExchange, the company that collects royalties on behalf of music labels, is offering an olive branch of sorts to Internet radio broadcasters. But the overture is not being well received by groups that represent webcasters.SoundExchange proposed a $2,500 cap on the fees charged against royalties for recordings played on Internet Radio. Recently enacted regulations due to go into effect on July 15 require webcasting services to pay a $500 minimum fee “per station or channel,” regardless of the overall number of stations or channels they stream. The new offer is SoundExchange’s attempt to address webcasters’ concerns about their liability for per-channel minimums.

“There was a lot of misunderstanding out there about how the minimum fee would apply, and frankly some people were wrongly stating SoundExchange’s policy on this matter,” John Simson, Executive Director of SoundExchange, said in a statement. “We certainly don’t want anybody to get unduly hurt by the minimum fee, but there is a value to music and a cost to administering the digital royalty program, and we wanted to ensure that everyone was treated fairly — artists, webcasters, and record labels.”

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