§ 262.3 - Royalty fees for public performances of sound recordings and for ephemeral recordings.

§ 262.3 Royalty fees for public performances of sound recordings and for ephemeral recordings.

(a) Basic royalty rate. Royalty rates and fees for eligible nonsubscription transmissions made by Licensees pursuant to 17 U.S.C. 114(d)(2) during the period January 1, 2003, through December 31, 2004, and the making of Ephemeral Recordings pursuant to 17 U.S.C. 112(e) to facilitate such transmissions; noninteractive digital audio transmissions made by Licensees pursuant to 17 U.S.C. 114(d)(2) as part of a new subscription service during the period October 28, 1998, through December 31, 2004, and the making of Ephemeral Recordings pursuant to 17 U.S.C. 112(e) to facilitate such transmissions; and the making of Ephemeral Recordings by Business Establishment Services pursuant to 17 U.S.C. 112(e) during the period January 1, 2003, through December 31, 2004, shall be as follows:

(1) Nonsubscription Services. For their operation of Nonsubscription Services, Licensees other than Business Establishment Services shall, at their election as provided in paragraph (b) of this section, pay at one of the following rates:

(i) Per Performance Option. $0.000762 (0.0762¢) per Performance for all digital audio transmissions, except that 4% of Performances shall bear no royalty to approximate the number of partial Performances of nominal duration made by a Licensee due to, for example, technical interruptions, the closing down of a media player or channel switching; Provided that this provision is not intended to imply that permitting users of a service to “skip” a recording is or is not permitted under 17 U.S.C. 114(d)(2). For the avoidance of doubt, this 4% exclusion shall apply to all Licensees electing this payment option irrespective of the Licensee's actual experience in respect of partial Performances.

(ii) Aggregate Tuning Hour Option -

(A) Non-Music Programming. $0.000762 (0.0762¢) per Aggregate Tuning Hour for programming reasonably classified as news, talk, sports or business programming.

(B) Broadcast Simulcasts. $0.0088 (0.88¢) per Aggregate Tuning Hour for Broadcast Simulcast programming not reasonably classified as news, talk, sports or business programming.

(C) Other Programming. $0.0117 (1.17¢) per Aggregate Tuning Hour for programming other than Broadcast Simulcast programming and programming reasonably classified as news, talk, sports or business programming.

(2) Subscription Services. For their operation of Subscription Services, Licensees other than Business Establishment Services shall, at their election as provided in paragraph (b) of this section, pay at one of the following rates:

(i) Per Performance Option. $0.000762 (0.0762¢) per Performance for all digital audio transmissions, except that 4% of Performances shall bear no royalty to approximate the number of partial Performances of nominal duration made by a Licensee due to, for example, technical interruptions, the closing down of a media player or channel switching; Provided that this provision is not intended to imply that permitting users of a service to “skip” a recording is or is not permitted under 17 U.S.C. 114(d)(2). For the avoidance of doubt, this 4% exclusion shall apply to all Licensees electing this payment option irrespective of the Licensee's actual experience in respect of partial performances.

(ii) Aggregate Tuning Hour Option -

(A) Non-Music Programming. $0.000762 (0.0762¢) per Aggregate Tuning Hour for programming reasonably classified as news, talk, sports or business programming.

(B) Broadcast Simulcasts. $0.0088 (0.88¢) per Aggregate Tuning Hour for Broadcast Simulcast programming not reasonably classified as news, talk, sports or business programming.

(C) Other Programming. $0.0117 (1.17¢) per Aggregate Tuning Hour for programming other than Broadcast Simulcast programming and programming reasonably classified as news, talk, sports or business programming.

(iii) Percentage of Subscription Service Revenues Option. 10.9% of Subscription Service Revenues, but in no event less than 27¢ per month for each person who subscribes to the Subscription Service for all or any part of the month or to whom the Subscription Service otherwise is delivered by Licensee without a fee (e.g., during a free trial period), subject to the following reduction associated with the transmission of directly licensed sound recordings (if applicable). For any given payment period, the fee due from Licensee shall be the amount calculated under the formula described in the immediately preceding sentence multiplied by the following fraction: the total number of Performances (as defined under § 262.2(j), which excludes directly licensed sound recordings) made by the Subscription Service during the period in question, divided by the total number of digital audio transmissions of sound recordings made by the Subscription Service during the period in question (inclusive of Performances and equivalent transmissions of directly licensed sound recordings). Any Licensee paying on such basis shall report to the Designated Agent on its statements of account the pertinent music use information upon which such reduction has been calculated. This option shall not be available to a Subscription Service where -

(A) A particular computer software product or other access device must be purchased for a separate fee from the Licensee as a condition of receiving transmissions of sound recordings through the Subscription Service, and the Licensee chooses not to include sales of such software product or other device to subscribers as part of Subscription Service Revenues in accordance with § 262.2(m)(3), or

(B) The consideration paid or given to receive the Subscription Service also entitles the subscriber to receive or have access to material, products or services other than the Subscription Service (for example, as in the case of a “bundled service” consisting of access to the Subscription Service and also access to the Internet in general). In all events, in order to be eligible for this payment option, a Licensee may not engage in pricing practices whereby the Subscription Service is offered to subscribers on a “loss leader” basis or whereby the price of the Subscription Service is materially subsidized by payments made by the subscribers for other products or services.

(3) Business Establishment Services. For the making of any number of Ephemeral Recordings in the operation of a service pursuant to the limitation on exclusive rights specified by 17 U.S.C. 114(d)(1)(C)(iv), a Licensee that is a Business Establishment Service shall pay 10% of such Licensee's “Gross Proceeds” derived from the use in such service of musical programs that are attributable to copyrighted recordings. “Gross Proceeds” as used in paragraph (a)(3) of this section means all fees and payments, including those made in kind, received from any source before, during or after the License Period that are derived from the use of copyrighted sound recordings pursuant to 17 U.S.C. 112(e) for the sole purpose of facilitating a transmission to the public of a performance of a sound recording under the limitation on exclusive rights specified in 17 U.S.C. 114(d)(1)(C)(iv). The attribution of Gross Proceeds to copyrighted recordings may be made on the basis of:

(i) For classical programs, the proportion that the playing time of copyrighted classical recordings bears to the total playing time of all classical recordings in the program, and

(ii) For all other programs, the proportion that the number of copyrighted recordings bears to the total number of all recordings in the program.

(b) Election process. A Licensee other than a Business Establishment Service shall elect the particular Nonsubscription Service and/or Subscription Service royalty rate categories it chooses (that is, among paragraph (a)(1)(i) or (ii) of this section and/or paragraph (a)(2)(i), (ii) or (iii) of this section) for the License Period by no later than March 8, 2004. Notwithstanding the preceding sentence, where a Licensee has not previously provided a Nonsubscription Service or Subscription Service, as the case may be, the Licensee may make its election by no later than thirty (30) days after the new service first makes a digital audio transmission of a sound recording under the 17 U.S.C. 114 statutory license. Each such election shall be made by notifying the Designated Agent in writing of such election, using an election form provided by the Designated Agent. A Licensee that fails to make a timely election shall pay royalties as provided in paragraphs (a)(1)(i) and (a)(2)(i) of this section, as applicable. Notwithstanding the foregoing, a Licensee eligible to make royalty payments under an agreement entered into pursuant to the Small Webcaster Settlement Act of 2002 may elect to make payments under such agreement as specified in such agreement.

(c) Ephemeral Recordings. The royalty payable under 17 U.S.C. 112(e) for any reproduction of a phonorecord made by a Licensee other than a Business Establishment Service during the License Period, and used solely by the Licensee to facilitate transmissions for which it pays royalties as and when provided in this section and § 262.4 shall be deemed to be included within, and to comprise 8.8% of, such royalty payments. The royalty payable under 17 U.S.C. 112(e) for the reproduction of phonorecords by a Business Establishment Service shall be as set forth in paragraph (a)(3) of this section.

(d) Minimum fee -

(1) Business Establishment Services. Each Licensee that is a Business Establishment Service shall pay a minimum fee of $10,000 for each calendar year in which it makes Ephemeral Recordings for use to facilitate transmissions under the limitation on exclusive rights specified by 17 U.S.C. 114(d)(1)(C)(iv), whether or not it does so for all or any part of the year.

(2) Other Services. Each Licensee other than a Business Establishment Service shall pay a minimum fee of $2,500, or $500 per channel or station (excluding archived programs, but in no event less than $500 per Licensee), whichever is less, for each calendar year in which it makes eligible nonsubscription transmissions, noninteractive digital audio transmissions as part of a new subscription service or Ephemeral Recordings for use to facilitate such transmissions, whether or not it does the foregoing for all or any part of the year; except that the minimum annual fee for a Licensee electing to pay under paragraph (a)(2)(iii) of this section shall be $5,000.

(3) In General. These minimum fees shall be nonrefundable, but shall be fully creditable to royalty payments due under paragraph (a) of this section for the same calendar year (but not any subsequent calendar year).

(e) Continuing Obligation. For the limited purpose of the period immediately following the License Period, and on an entirely without prejudice and nonprecedential basis relative to other time periods and proceedings, if successor statutory royalty rates for Licensees for the period beginning January 1, 2005, have not been established by January 1, 2005, then Licensees shall pay to the Designated Agent, effective January 1, 2005, and continuing for the period through April 30, 2005, or until successor rates and terms are established, whichever is earlier, an interim royalty pursuant to the same rates and terms as are provided for the License Period. Such interim royalties shall be subject to retroactive adjustment based on the final successor rates. Any overpayment shall be fully creditable to future payments, and any underpayment shall be paid within 30 days after establishment of the successor rates and terms, except as may otherwise be provided in the successor terms. If there is a period of such interim payments, Licensees shall elect the particular royalty rate categories it chooses for the interim period as described in paragraph (b) of this section, except that the election for a service that is in operation shall be made by no later than January 15, 2005.

(f) Other royalty rates and terms. This part 262 does not apply to persons or entities other than Licensees, or to Licensees to the extent that they make other types of transmissions beyond those set forth in paragraph (a) of this section. For transmissions other than those governed by paragraph (a) of this section, or the use of Ephemeral Recordings to facilitate such transmissions, persons making such transmissions must pay royalties, to the extent (if at all) applicable, under 17 U.S.C. 112(e) and 114 or as prescribed by other law, regulation or agreement.