D.C. Court of Appeals Upholds CRB 2012 Royalty Rate Decision

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit affirmed a statutory royalty rate decision by the Copyright Royalty Board, in a ruling Friday. The court denied appeals by SoundExchange, which said the CRB’s rates and terms for satellite digital audio radio services and pre-existing subscription services (PSS) were too low. Music Choice and SiriusXM also appealed the 2-year-old decision, saying the rates were too high. “For Sirius XM, the rates set by the decision increased from 9% [of gross revenue] in 2013 to 11% in 2017, reflecting slight .5% rate increases each year during the term,” David Oxenford of Wilkinson Barker said in a blog post Monday. “The Music Choice royalty for PSS services went from a previously negotiated 7.5% up to 8% in 2013 and 8.5% of gross revenues through 2017,” he said. The court also decided to “leave in place the CRB’s determination that Sirius XM should be able to deduct from its royalty payments a percentage of its revenue equal to the percentage of pre-1972 sound recordings played by the service,” Oxenford said.