Music Streaming Service Fees To Increase
As widely reported, the federal Copyright Royalty Board ruled on January 27 to require music streaming services to increase mechanical royalty payments to songwriters and publishers. The increase – to occur incrementally over the next five years – will raise the payments to 15.1 percent of revenues by 2022, an increase of 4.6 percent over the current 10.5 percent payment. The ruling is the result of a trial in 2017 between music publishers and streaming services providers. According to the National Music Publishers' Association, the increase is the largest in the history of the board. Streaming services now account for over 60 percent of music revenues.
