[Federal Register Volume 83, Number 229 (Wednesday, November 28, 2018)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Page 61125]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2018-25908]
=======================================================================
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS
Copyright Royalty Board
37 CFR Part 380
[Docket No. 14-CRB-0001-WR (2016-2020) COLA 2019]
Cost of Living Adjustment to Royalty Rates for Webcaster
Statutory License
AGENCY: Copyright Royalty Board (CRB), Library of Congress.
ACTION: Final rule; cost of living adjustment.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY: The Copyright Royalty Judges announce a cost of living
adjustment (COLA) in the royalty rates that commercial and
noncommercial noninteractive webcasters pay for eligible transmissions
pursuant to the statutory licenses for the public performance of and
for the making of ephemeral reproductions of sound recordings.
DATES:
Effective date: January 1, 2019.
Applicability dates: These rates are applicable to the period
January 1, 2019, through December 31, 2019.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Anita Blaine, CRB Program Assistant,
by telephone at (202) 707-7658 or by email at [email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Sections 112(e) and 114(f) of the Copyright
Act, title 17 of the United States Code, create statutory licenses for
certain digital performances of sound recordings and the making of
ephemeral reproductions to facilitate transmission of those sound
recordings. On May 2, 2016, the Copyright Royalty Judges (Judges)
adopted final regulations governing the rates and terms of copyright
royalty payments under those licenses for the license period 2016-2020
for performances of sound recordings via eligible transmissions by
commercial and noncommercial noninteractive webcasters. See 81 FR
26316.
Pursuant to those regulations, at least 25 days before January 1 of
each year from 2017 to 2020, the Judges shall publish in the Federal
Register notice of a COLA applicable to the royalty fees for
performances of sound recordings via eligible transmissions by
commercial and noncommercial noninteractive webcasters. 37 CFR 380.10.
The adjustment in the royalty fee shall be based on a calculation
of the percentage increase in the CPI-U from the CPI-U published in
November 2015 (237.838), according to the formula (1 + (Cy-
237.838)/237.838) x R2016, where Cy is the CPI-U
published by the Secretary of Labor before December 1 of the preceding
year and R2016 is the royalty rate for 2016; i.e., for
commercial webcasters $0.0022 per subscription performance or $0.0017
per nonsubscription performance, or for noncommercial webcasters
$0.0018 per performance for all digital audio transmissions in excess
of 159,140 Aggregate Tuning Hours (ATH) in a month on a channel or
station. The adjustment shall be rounded to the nearest fourth decimal
place. 37 CFR 380.10(c). The CPI-U published by the Secretary of Labor
from the most recent index published before December 1, 2018, is
252.885.\1\ Applying the formula in 37 CFR 380.10(c) and rounding to
the nearest fourth decimal place results in an increase in the rates
for 2019.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\ As announced on November 14, 2018, by the Bureau of Labor
Statistics in its News Release--Consumer Price Index October 2018,
available at http://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/cpi.pdf at 4.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
The 2019 rate for eligible transmission of sound recordings by
commercial webcasters is a rate of $0.0023 per subscription performance
and a rate of $0.0018 per nonsubscription performance.
Application of the increase to rates for noncommercial webcasters
results in a 2019 rate of $0.0019 per performance for all digital audio
transmissions in excess of 159,140 ATH in a month on a channel or
station.
As provided in 37 CFR 380.10(d), the royalty fee for making
ephemeral recordings under section 112 of the Copyright Act to
facilitate digital transmission of sound recordings under section 114
of the Copyright Act is included in the section 114 royalty fee and
comprises 5% of the total fee.
List of Subjects in 37 CFR Part 380
Copyright, Sound recordings.
Final Regulations
In consideration of the foregoing, the Judges amend part 380 of
title 37 of the Code of Federal Regulations as follows:
PART 380--RATES AND TERMS FOR TRANSMISSIONS BY ELIGIBLE
NONSUBSCRIPTION SERVICES AND NEW SUBSCRIPTION SERVICES AND FOR THE
MAKING OF EPHEMERAL REPRODUCTIONS TO FACILITATE THOSE TRANSMISSIONS
0
1. The authority citation for part 380 continues to read as follows:
Authority: 17 U.S.C. 112(e), 114(f), 804(b)(3).
0
2. Section 380.10 is amended by revising paragraph (a) to read as
follows:
Sec. 380.10 Royalty fees for the public performance of sound
recordings and the making of ephemeral recordings.
(a) Royalty fees. For the year 2019, Licensees must pay royalty
fees for all Eligible Transmissions of sound recordings at the
following rates:
(1) Commercial webcasters: $0.0023 per performance for subscription
services and $0.0018 per performance for nonsubscription services.
(2) Noncommercial webcasters. $500 per year for each channel or
station and $0.0019 per performance for all digital audio transmissions
in excess of 159,140 ATH in a month on a channel or station.
* * * * *
Suzanne M. Barnett,
Chief Copyright Royalty Judge.
[FR Doc. 2018-25908 Filed 11-27-18; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 1410-72-P