Music Licensing and Compliance
Reporting
Sep 24-27 2015
GRC 2015
presented by
Topics
If your station broadcasts or streams music you need licenses.
Licensing and the reporting that goes with it are complex and
confusing topics, this presentation aims to demystify them in
plain English – in the context of noncommercial radio.
Topics include:
• Copyright & royalties: musical work, sound recording
• Licensing agencies: ASCAP, BMI, SESAC and
SoundExchange
• Licensing options and reporting requirements
• DMCA compliance
• Webcasting vs. Webcast-archive vs. Podcasting
• Q&A
Musical Copyrights and Royalties
Musical composition
• Composition and lyrics
• Rights held by song writers, composers, publishers
• Administered by PROs (ASCAP, BMI, SESAC)
Sound recording
• What’s on a CD or LP
• Rights held by recording artists and labels
• Administered by SoundExchange
Public performance & royalty agencies
Broadcast
PROs:
Webcast
Musical composition
PROs:
Sound recording
In the USA, AM/FM radio
pays no royalties to sound
recording copyright owners
PROs = Performance Rights Organizations
ASCAP and BMI each offer blanket licenses for both webcast and broadcast
SESAC requires separates webcast and broadcast licenses
“The Mercy Seat”
1988 composition by Nick Cave
2000 recording by Johnny Cash
If the Cash recording of “The Mercy Seat” is played, royalties are due:
• Broadcast radio
o Nick Cave for the composition (musical work)
• Webcast radio
o Nick Cave for the composition (musical work)
o Johnny Cash for the recording (sound recording)
Licenses and Fees
http://spinitron.com/doc/special-topics/webcast-reports/options-compared/
NC Webcaster (WSA)
NC Educational (CBI)
Public Radio (CPB)
Any Noncommercial
Noncommercial educational
Non CPB grantee
CPB eligible, NFCB member, NPR,
APM, PRI, PRX affiliate
Eligibility
Elect
By Jan 31each calendar year
Every 5 years
Audience size covered by minimum fee
159,140 ATH per month
= 218 average number of simultaneous listeners
Annual minimum fee
$500
Excess fee (2015)
$0.00083 /performance
$0.0025 /performance
= $7.27 /listener/month
= $21.90 /listener/month
CPB covers all royalties
NPR data processing fees:
Annual:
•
•
•
•
Zero for NPR members
$250 for NPR stream clients
$275 for NFCB members
$500 for everyone else
Quarterly:
• $500 for incorrectly formatted
reports
Proxy fee (reporting waiver)
$100/year if average
audience ≤ 5 listeners
$100/year if average audience
≤ 75 listeners
(annual ATH ≤ 44,000)
(monthly ATH ≤ 55,000)
Not applicable
Recordkeeping and reporting
NC Webcaster (WSA)
NC Educational (CBI)
Public Radio (CPB)
Song data to record (playlist logs)
• Song Title
• Artist Name
• Album Name
or ISRC
• Label Name
• Number of times a song was played
• Song Title
• Artist Name
• Album Name
• Label Name
• Exact start + end time (or
duration) of each song
Reporting frequency
Two weeks each quarter,
submitted to SX quarterly
Two weeks each quarter,
submitted to SX annually
Two weeks each quarter,
submitted to NPR/DS quarterly
• Playlist logs
• Play frequency
• Playlist logs with exact song
time-stamps
• Stream logs with IP addresses
and connect/disconnect times
• Update program schedule
• Specify reporting period
Reports to submit
•
•
•
•
Playlist logs
Play frequency
ATH for reporting period
Monthly SOA
Audience size
Aggregate Tuning Hours (ATH)
Listener hours added up over some period of time
• From your streaming service provider
• Calculate from your webcast server log
• Estimate
Actual Total Performances (ATP)
How many listeners listened to each song
• Calculate from webcast server log and playlist logs
Listener Hour
😃
😃
45
25
😃
35
😃
😃
😀
60
30
30 + 60 + 35 + 25 + 45 = 195
→ 3.25 listener hour
ATP – Actual Total Performances
Jenny Lewis – Late Bloomer
[5:13]
Ty Segall – Feel
[4:15]
Daft Punk – Get Lucky
[6:10]
😃
😃
😃
😃
😃
😃
😃
😃
3:20:14
1
2
1
1
2
2
3
3
4
4
3
4
5
5
6
3:26:24
3:26:42
5
3:30:57
3:31:12
3:36:25
ATP fairer than ATH for distribution of royalties
DMCA compliance - webcasting
Performance complement
In a 3 hour period the webcaster may transmit no more than:
• 4 tracks by the same featured artist (or from a compilation
album) and no more than 3 of those tracks may be
transmitted consecutively.
• 3 tracks from the same album and no more than 2 of those
tracks may be transmitted consecutively.
No prior announcements
Song identification
Programming restrictions
• Archived programs
• Continuously looped programs
• Rebroadcast of programs
Streaming vs. Podcast
Webcast
• Non-interacive
• Non-subscription
• Streaming media
Archived program
• At least 5 hours duration
• Available for maximum 2 weeks
• Streaming media
Podcast
• Not covered by statutory licence
• Must negotiate with rights holders
• Download/reproduction
Information sources
Webcast Reporting - Spinitron
• http://spinitron.com/doc/special-topics/webcast-reports/
Statutory Licensing - SX
• http://www.soundexchange.com/service-provider/licensing-101/
Noncommercial Webcaster Licensing - SX
• http://www.soundexchange.com/service-provider/non-commercial-webcaster/
Music Licensing for Noncommercial Radio - Prometheus Radio
• http://www.prometheusradio.org/musiclicensing
Music in Digital Media - Broadcast Law
Blog
• http://www.dwt.com/advisories/The_Basics_of_Music_Licensing_in_Digital_Media_2011_Update_02_22_2011/
Slides
• http://www.dwt.com/files/Uploads/Documents/Presentations/02-11_Oxenford_Texas.pdf
Streaming Copyright Basics - GSB Law
• http://www.gsblaw.com/pdfs/Reference_Memo_Streaming_Copyright_Basics_0311.pdf
Rates and Terms for Noncommercial Broadcasting ASCAP, BMI, SESAC - FR
• http://www.loc.gov/crb/fedreg/2012/77fr71104.pdf
How the Money Flows - FMC
• http://futureofmusic.org/article/article/music-and-how-money-flows
Podcasting Legal Guide - Music - CC
• https://wiki.creativecommons.org/wiki/Podcasting_Legal_Guide#Using_Music
Questions?
Tom Worster, Eva Papp
spinitron.com
eva@spinitron.com
617 233 3115