Agreement for Public Radio’s Webcasting Royalty Rates

NFCB is pleased to announce that through the cooperative efforts of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), NPR, and the Station Resource Group, an agreement with SoundExchange (SX) has been struck that defines the terms, conditions, and costs for public broadcasters to provide (music) sound recordings over the internet. This important and comprehensive agreement sets out fair and responsible terms for public radio entities that stream music programming.  The agreement with SoundExchange establishes the amount of royalties that will be paid by CPB on behalf of the public radio system for the period January 1, 2005 through December 31, 2010.  It was reached under the authority of the Webcaster Settlement Act of 2008 (H.R. 7080) and will cover approximately 450 public radio webcasters including participant members of the National Federation of Community Broadcasters, CPB supported stations, NPR, NPR members, American Public Media, the Public Radio Exchange, and Public Radio International.

CPB will make a single payment to cover these qualified public radio stations for the entire term of the agreement. Eligible stations or organizations that want to be covered by this agreement will be directed to a CPB designated website where they can review the agreement and, by affirmatively signing up and agreeing, secure the benefits and be covered under this agreement. Details on the website will be coming soon.

The agreement also defines the type and format of the reports that public radio stations must provide to take advantage of the CPB-SX blanket agreement. To secure the benefits of this agreement, stations will have an obligation to provide quarterly data on usage of their internet streams and accurate playlists of sound recordings played on their websites. These reports will supply SX with the information necessary to make payments to artists and labels. To assist stations in complying with SX reporting requirements, CPB is establishing an independent reporting support structure to help stations create and gather playlists and usage data, aggregate it, and deliver it to SoundExchange. CPB will communicate details on this reporting assistance as well as signing up for it very soon.

More information from CPB and a Q&A document is available here.