NAB
SoundExchange and the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) have reached a broad rate settlement that includes per performance rates rising from $0.0025 this year to $0.0032 in 2030 for non-subscription digital audio transmissions.
The expansive settlement, which covers the period of 2026-2030, allows SoundExchange and the NAB to forego the usually expensive Copyright Royalty Board rate trials, but the settlement still needs formal approval by the CRB.
Other aspects of the settlement involve gradually raising the current annual minimum fee of $1,000 per station by $50 each year, reaching $1,250 for 2029 and 2030. Additionally, the annual minimum fees will be capped at 100 stations, which means that the large radio networks will have annual minimum fees grow from $100,000 currently to $125,000 in the last two years of the settlement.
Trending on Billboard
“This settlement with broadcasters provides needed increases for the creative community we represent, and allows us to forego the costs, uncertainties, and distraction connected with any litigation,” SoundExchange president and CEO Michael Huppe said in a statement. “Striking a business solution that both parties can accept has many benefits over battling it out in court and allows us to focus resources on other efforts and services benefiting our creator community.”
Additionally, the settlement mandates shorter reporting and payment deadlines, requiring radio stations to submit data and payments within 30 days after the end of the month, down from the current 45-day timeframe. Furthermore, radio stations also must provide contractual access to performance data held by third-party vendors, which should enhance SoundExchange’s auditing capabilities.
On the positive side for radio stations, late fees for underpayments are reduced from 1.5% to 1% per month. This change, along with the predictability of incremental costs and the capping of minimum payments, offers additional financial relief.
In noting that the NAB is “extremely pleased” to reach the settlement with SoundExchange for the CRB Web VI rate setting period of 2026-2030, NAB president and CEO Curtis LeGety said in a statement that “this settlement provides critical certainty around streaming rates in a way that is sustainable for broadcasters large and small, ensuring that local stations can continue to deliver the experiences and connection that millions of listeners depend on every day.”
Furthermore, he said, “It also includes meaningful improvements in areas like audit late fees and minimum payments, helping broadcasters focus their resources on serving fans and supporting the artists who make broadcast radio so impactful, all while avoiding the high costs of litigation.”
The specifics of the incremental rate increases show that after rising from $0.0025 in 2025 to $0.0028 in 2026, the per performance rate will increase by 1/100th of a penny each subsequent year, culminating in $0.0032 in 2030.
The settlement will be published in the Federal Register so it’s available for public comment, although that doesn’t appear to have happened as of yet, at least according to a Billboard search of the Federal Register and the Copyright Royalty Board websites.
Two new members were inducted into the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) Hall of Fame on Tuesday (April 8): BMI singer/songwriter John Oates (in radio) and the National Football League, or NFL (in TV). The inductions were the highlight of a dinner at Encore in Las Vegas that was jointly presented by BMI and the NAB.
The event marked the end of BMI’s run hosting the dinner, with plans for NAB to continue the Hall of Fame tradition moving forward.
Oates, who first signed with BMI in 1972, was inducted into the NAB Radio Hall of Fame for his contributions to American radio, chiefly as the co-founder of Daryl Hall & John Oates, one of the most successful duos in music history. Hall & Oates amassed 16 top 10 hits on the Billboard Hot 100 — including seven that Oates co-wrote — including “Sara Smile,” “She’s Gone,” “You Make My Dreams,” “I Can’t Go for That (No Can Do),” “Maneater,” “Adult Education” and “Out of Touch.”
Trending on Billboard
Oates had previously received the BMI Icon Award and the BMI Troubadour Award. He has also received 10 BMI Pop Awards and 30 BMI Million-Air Awards for his songs’ repeated airplay. In addition, as a member of Hall & Oates, he received five Grammy nominations and was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2004 and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2014.
In accepting the award, Oates thanked the NAB for the honor and talked about the importance of radio in his life, sharing that the music played on the stations he listened to growing up was “indelibly printed on my soul, my mind, and it’s the music that made me. I owe everything to radio.” He then performed six songs: the Hall & Oates hits “Out of Touch” and “She’s Gone;” three solo songs, including “A Ways Away,” from an album slated for release later this year; and a rendition of the 1954 Ray Charles classic, “I Got a Woman.”
The NFL was inducted into the NAB Television Hall of Fame for its pioneering influence on sports broadcasting, from its early days to its role as a cultural powerhouse today. Since the first televised NFL game in 1939, the league has consistently broken barriers in the broadcasting world.
Rich Eisen, NFL Network broadcaster and host of The Rich Eisen Show, accepted the award on behalf of the NFL, acknowledging the league’s far-reaching impact on sports broadcasting and TV culture. A video produced by NFL Films was shown, highlighting the NFL’s journey in TV history, leading into Eisen’s acceptance speech and a video message from NFL commissioner Roger Goodell.
On BMI’s last time hosting what has become a highlight of the NAB Show, BMI CEO/president Mike O’Neill said, “In celebration of 75 amazing years, I can think of no better time or way to preserve the tradition of this evening than for BMI to hand it over to our incredible partners from the start, the NAB. We believe that the broadcasting industry and the creative community will always enrich one another, and BMI is honored to facilitate that vital relationship long into the future.”
BMI celebrated songwriter, composer and producer David Foster at the 74th annual BMI/NAB Dinner held Tuesday (April 16) at Encore Las Vegas. The private event was sponsored by Xperi.
BMI President & CEO Mike O’Neill presented Foster with the award, praising Foster’s “extraordinary creativity and the singular impact he’s made as a songwriter, a producer, an artist, a mentor and a philanthropist.” Foster joined BMI in 1978.
The annual BMI/NAB dinner recognizes the mutually supportive relationship between the songwriting community and the broadcast industry. Past recipients of the BMI honor include Paul Anka, John Fogerty, Graham Nash, Willie Nelson, Dolly Parton, Mike Post, Carlos Santana, Paul Simon, Carrie Underwood and John Williams.
Trending on Billboard
Following a video of career highlights, Foster performed. He was joined on stage by his wife, singer-actress Katharine McPhee, and classically trained vocalist Daniel Emmet.
Foster has received many accolades over the years, including 16 Grammy Awards, a Primetime Emmy and three Oscar nods for best original song.
His Grammys include three wins for producer of the year (non-classical), three for album of the year and two for record of the year. He has won 11 of his 16 Grammys for producing, four for arranging and one for songwriting (his first Grammy, for co-writing Earth, Wind & Fire’s 1979 smash “After the Love Has Gone,” which was voted best R&B song). His other Grammys are for work with Jennifer Holliday (on the Dreamgirls cast album), Chicago, Barbra Streisand, Natalie Cole, Celine Dion, Whitney Houston and Michael Bublé.
His Emmy was for co-writing a song for The Concert for World Children’s Day, an ABC special in 2003. He has been nominated three times for outstanding music direction for those endlessly replayed Great Performances specials on PBS.
Foster was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2010. He was honored as a BMI Icon the following year. He has won 42 BMI Awards and was named BMI pop songwriter of the year three times.
National Association of Broadcasters president and CEO Curtis LeGeyt spoke out on the potential dangers of Artificial Intelligence on Monday at the NAB Show in Las Vegas. “This is an area where NAB will absolutely be active,” he asserted of AI, which is one of the buzziest topics this week at the annual convention. “It is just amazing how quickly the relevance of AI to our entire economy — but specifically, since we’re in this room, the broadcast industry — has gone from amorphous concept to real.”
LeGeyt warned of several concerns that he has for local broadcasters, the first being issues surrounding “big tech” taking broadcast content and not fairly compensating broadcasters for its use. “We have been fighting for legislation to put some guardrails on it,” LeGeyt said. “AI has the potential to put that on overdrive. We need to ensure that our stations, our content creators are going to be fairly compensated.”
He added that he worries for journalists. “We’re already under attack for any slip-up we might have with regard to misreporting on a story. Well, you’re gonna have to do a heck of a lot more diligence to ensure that whatever you are reporting on is real, fact-based information and not just some AI bot that happens to look like Joe Biden.” Finally, he warned of images and likenesses being misappropriated where AI is involved.
“I want to wave the caution flag on some of these areas,” he said. “I think this could be really damaging for local broadcast.”
During his talk, he also outlines was he sees as potential opportunities. “My own view is there are some real potentially hyperlocal benefits to AI,” he said, citing as examples translation services and the ability to speed up research at “resource-constrained local stations.” He asserted, “Investigative journalism is never going to be replaced by AI. Our role at local community events, philanthropic work, is never going to be replaced by AI. But to the degree that we can leverage AI to do some of the things that are time-consuming and take away your ability to be boots on the ground doing the things that only you can do well, I think that’s a positive.”
Also addressed during the session was the voluntary rollout of the next generation of digital television, known as ATSC 3.0, which may include capabilities such as free, live broadcasting to mobile devices. A change of this magnitude has a lot of moving parts and has a long way to go before its potential can be realized.
At NAB, FCC chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel was on hand to announce the Future of Television Initiative, which she described as a public-private partnership among stakeholders to support a transition to ATSC 3.0. “With over 60 percent of Americans already in range of a Next Gen TV signal, we are excited to work closely with all stakeholders, including the FCC, to bring Next Gen TV and all of its benefits to all viewers,” said LeGeyt.
During his session, LeGeyt also addressed “fierce competition for the dashboard” as part of a discussion of connected cars. “It’s not enough for any one [broadcaster] to innovate. If we are all not rowing in the same direction as an industry, … we are going to lose this arms race,” he warned.
Citing competition from the likes of Spotify, he contends that the local content offered by broadcasters gives them a “competitive advantage.”
The NAB Show runs through Wednesday.
This article was originally published by The Hollywood Reporter.
-
Pages