RAIN: Radio And Internet Newsletter: RAIN 10/30: Canada's Copyright Board announces webcast royalty decision

RAIN 10/30: Canada's Copyright Board announces webcast royalty decision
·Oct 30, 12:12 PM
Posted by: Paul Maloney

CANADA ISSUES COMPOSITION ROYALTY RATE FOR ONLINE MUSIC

The Copyright Board of Canada has announced its decision regarding royalty rates radio and other media will pay for the use

of copyright compositions on the Internet. The term of the rates is completely retroactive, covering the period from 1996 through 2006. The decision is the second part of what’s known as Tariff 22.

As per the decision, commercial music radio stations will pay 4.2% of their Internet-related revenues to SOCAN (the Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada) for the benefit of songwriters and music publishers (“low music use” stations, like news/talk, will pay 1.5%).

These rates will apply to no more than half of a site’s advertising revenues or operating costs, since not all of a radio station’s web pages use music, and therefore not all revenue earned can be attributed to the use of music. Copyright users, in some cases, can reduce this rate even further.

Internet-only webcasters will owe between 1.5% and 5.3% of revenues, depending on the amount of music they use.

This royalty is for the use of music compositions only, and is analogous to the ASCAP/BMI/SESAC fees in the U.S. This is separate from royalties paid for the use of copyright sound recordings. Read more on this story in Broadcaster magazine here. SOCAN’s fact sheet is here. You can read the actual decision here. And finally, RAIN last reported on Tariff 22 issues here.

Thanks to RAIN reader Brian McGlynn for the heads-up on this story.

AT&T OFFERS IPHONE USERS FREE WI-FI

AT&T is offering free Wi-Fi for iPhone users… for the third time. As Washington Post reports, a

message on the AT&T Wireless website says “free AT&T Wi-Fi access is now available for Apple iPhone at thousands of hotspots nationwide, including Starbucks.” Yet, as the paper reports, “It’s the same message visitors saw first in May, then again in July — only in those instances, the text disappeared within hours, and without much explanation. ‘The Web page was posted in error and is being removed,’ a spokesperson stated at the time.” The Post writes an AT&T rep assured them “this week’s appearance is legit and intentional.”

For free Wi-Fi, iPhone users should activate Wi-Fi in settings panel, select “attwifi” as the network, and enter the cell phone number. Users will be sent a text message with a link that will work for 24 hours. Read more in the Washington Post here.

LANE: RADIO NEEDS A NATIONAL DIGITAL AD MARKETPLACE

Industry vet Jennifer Lane, citing the rise of interactive agencies and the growing importance of “digital age” accountability and metrics, advocates a new “digital system” for national radio. She writes in Audio4Cast (here), “Rather than dedicated reps selling spots on certain stations in certain markets and competing against other reps and stations for higher rates and shares, a team of national sellers should spend their time bringing more national advertisers to radio, and leading them to this digital marketplace where units are bought and sold.”

USA TODAY REVIEWS AUTONET IN-CAR WI-FI, “NEAT BUT PRETTY BUMPY”

Although reviewer Edward Baig of USA Today found connection issues with the Autonet in-car Wi-Fi system, he writes, “I usually had a decent enough connection to surf news sites, check e-mail and listen to Internet radio.” For more, read his review here.

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