From the Broadcast Law Blog, by David Oxenford: "Following the recent Copyright Royalty Board decision,… many individuals and companies have asked what can be done either to reverse the decision, or to operate in a world where the decision becomes effective…

"First, Petitions for Rehearing of the Decision can be filed by the parties to the case within 15 days of the release of the decision — by March 19… There is a… possibility that the Board will clarify some of the more onerous ambiguities of the decision — such as the issue of what constitutes a ‘channel’ or ‘station’ to which the minimum fee attaches…

"But there are other ways in which this decision could be changed, or ways by which webcasters could work around its effects. SoundExchange and some or all of the parties could reach a voluntary settlement, agreeing to rates different from those that the Board assigned. These rates would have to be applicable to classes of webcasters — rather than to individual companies…

"Given that we have had two decisions in the last 5 years on these royalties, and both times the decisions have been such that smaller entities feel that they have been disenfranchised — even when they were part of the process as they were this year — the whole ‘willing buyer, willing seller’ standard used in this case might need to be reevaluated…

"Finally, if none of these options work, services can try to negotiate private deals for the use of  music by artists who believe that the promotional value of Internet radio exposure helps them sell recordings, concert tickets and other merchandise."

Read the entire post at the Broadcast Law Blog.

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