A postponement of the deadline by which net radio channels must pay revised artist and label royalties has given many independent and larger online broadcasters a reprieve – for now – as well as more breathing space to launch a legal challenge. After an 18-month review, the Copyright Royalty Board in March ruled to hike royalty rates from the previous $0.00076 per listener per song ($0.0002 for non-commercial stations) to $0.0011 per from this year and make a retrospective increase to $0.0008 for 2006. The payments for the retrospective period were due May 15 and many stations had complained they were likely to be put out of business, but a board ruling issued Tuesday sets that date back to July 15.
AP: “That also started a 30-day clock within which webcasters can file a notice to appeal the decision in federal court, something they have said they plan to do.” Royalties collection agency SoundExchange (pdf): “Having the additional two months will give webcasters more time to make the true-up payments, and should provide greater business flexibility for all concerned parties.”