CRB Publishes Rates for Noncommercial Webcasters

The Copyright Royalty Board published final regulations setting the rates for digital performances of sound recording by noncommercial educational webcasters, said Monday's Federal Register. The rates cover Jan.1, 2016, to Dec. 31, 2020, the copyright royalty judges (CRJ) said. “The agreement reached voluntarily between SoundExchange and CBI [College Broadcasters, Inc.] establishes a reasonable basis for setting statutory terms and rates for noncommercial educational webcasters.” The Register of Copyrights also issued a memorandum opinion that CRJs are allowed to consider direct licensing agreements that include terms similar to the 2009 webcaster settlement agreements as benchmarks or corroborative evidence. SoundExchange had argued such agreements couldn't be considered by CRJs, while broadcasters wanted the CRJs to be able to consider such agreements when setting rates (see 1507210071).