Tuesday, May 14, 2013 - 11:50pm
We've heard recently that Apple's "iRadio" webcasting service has hit snags in licensing discussions with rights owners (most recently here).
It's important to note that any such deals that result from negotiation with labels mean Apple will not operate under the statutory webcast license (any service willing to operate within the statutory's requirements can pay that rate -- no negotiation needed). A direct license with labels could allow Apple to avoid the statutory's specific limitations on the use of music (its prohibition on "on-demand" and other measures known as the "sound performance complement"). It might even grant Apple a preferred royalty rate.
Such an arrangement would also free the labels from the statutory's required 50/50 split of the royalties with performers. As per the DMCA, the royalties SoundExchange collects from webcasters operating under the statutory license get split between copyright owners (record labels, who get 50%) and performers (the featured performer gets 45%, with 5% going to musicians unions for backup performers).
But the DMCA also allows for copyright owners to negotiate directly with webcasters, which is what appears to be happening with Apple. In such a case, the DMCA's requirements (like the "sound performance complement" and the "50/45/5" split) don't apply. Performers would still most likely earn something from webcast plays on a service with a direct license, under the terms of their particular contract with their record label. But if some artists are chafing at what they're paid by webcasters paying the statutory, they'll likely make far less from Apple iRadio plays.
"And so, it didn’t take a rocket scientist to anticipate that direct licenses for an iRadio service could get negotiated at rates below the webcaster rates formally established through the Copyright Royalty Board (CRB) or published Settlement agreement," writes Washington and Lee University assistant professor David Touve in Rockonomic here.
It's feasible to imagine that a record label, no longer required to share 50% of the webcasting royalties, could grant a major licensee like Apple a significant discount, and still earn more than it would under that statutory. Apple's savings, and the labels' bonus, would come from what performers would have earned under the statutory license.