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Recording Artists and College Broadcasters Agree on New Fees

June 18, 2003

The recording industry reached an agreement with noncommercial college radio broadcasters on new Webcasting fees late last month. The new rate schedule makes it easier for college radio stations to broadcast music over the Internet. Implementation of an earlier rate schedule determined by the Librarian of Congress, forcing campus radio stations to pay royalties back to 1998, was avoided. The earlier schedule would have likely forced many campus radio stations to close their doors.

Under the new agreement, campuses with fewer than 10,000 students pay a flat rate of $250 per year. If that station exceeds 146,000 broadcasting hours per month, an additional fee of $.002 per song will be paid above the monthly limit. The fee for campuses with 10,000 or more students is $500 annually, with the same hourly limit as smaller institutions. The older schedule would have required a fee of $.002 per listener per song Webcast or a minimum annual fee of $500 and would have been retroactive to 1998.

A number of higher education groups worked to achieve the agreement by May 31, at which point the more expensive rate schedule would have become permanent.

For more information, see the Federal Register Update or contact Anne Gross, vice president for business and regulatory affairs, at anne.gross@nacubo.org.