37 CFR 384.3 – Royalty fees for ephemeral recordings
(a) Basic royalty rate. (1) For the making of any number of Ephemeral Recordings in the operation of a Business Establishment Service, a Licensee shall pay a royalty equal to the following percentages of such Licensee’s “Gross Proceeds” derived from the use in such service of musical programs that are attributable to recordings subject to protection under title 17, United States Code:
Table 1 to Paragraph (
| Year | Rate (%) |
|---|---|
| 2024 | 14.0 |
| 2025 | 14.5 |
| 2026 | 14.75 |
| 2027 | 15.0 |
| 2028 | 15.0 |
(2) Gross Proceeds as used in this section means all fees and payments, including those made in kind, received from any source before, during or after the License Period that are derived from the use of sound recordings subject to protection under title 17, United States Code, during the License Period pursuant to 17 U.S.C. § 112(e) for the sole purpose of facilitating a transmission to the public of a performance of a sound recording under the limitation on exclusive rights specified in 17 U.S.C. § 114(d)(1)(C)(iv).
(3) Subject to paragraph (a)(4) of this section, the royalty specified in paragraph (a)(1) of this section for a particular Business Establishment Service offering may be reduced by a percentage corresponding to the “Direct License Share” for such Business Establishment Service offering, as follows:
(i) If the transmissions of the Business Establishment Service offering are entirely made over the internet or the Licensee otherwise is able to count all of its Performances to business subscribers, the Direct License Share for such Business Establishment Service offering is its Performances of directly licensed sound recordings and sound recordings for which no license is required (e.g., sound recordings in which the copyrights are owned by the Licensee) (collectively, “Excluded Recordings”) divided by its total Performances.
(ii) If the transmissions of the Business Establishment Service offering are made to 10% or more of the bona fide subscriber locations of the Business Establishment Service offering over the internet, or the Licensee otherwise is able to count its Performances to 10% or more of bona fide subscriber locations of the Business Establishment Service offering, and the Business Establishment Service offering provides transmissions of a substantially similar set of channels (fairly represented by the countable channels) to other subscriber locations by means that do not allow the Licensee to count Performances (e.g., by satellite with no usage feedback), the Direct License Share for such Business Establishment Service offering is its Performances of Excluded Recordings to the locations where the Licensee is able to count its Performances divided by its total Performances to the locations where the Licensee is able to count its Performances. When reporting under § 370.4(d)(2)(vii) of this chapter, such total countable Performances of sound recordings that are not Excluded Recordings shall be treated and reported as the “actual total performances” of the Business Establishment Service if the Direct License Share is calculated pursuant to this paragraph (a)(3)(ii).
(iii) If paragraphs (a)(3)(i) and (ii) of this section do not apply, but the Licensee transmits a set of webcast channels substantially similar to and representative of the Business Establishment Service offering to consumers over the internet or by other means that allow the Licensee to count Performances on those channels (“Reference Channels”), the Direct License Share for such Business Establishment Service offering is its Performances of Excluded Recordings on the Reference Channels divided by its total Performances on the Reference Channels.
(iv) Otherwise, the Direct License Share for such Business Establishment Service offering is a fraction calculated on a subscriber location-by-subscriber location basis, or if that is impracticable, on a uniform basis for all subscriber locations, where:
(A) The numerator is the play frequency (as defined in § 370.4(b) of this chapter) of Excluded Recordings for the Business Establishment Service offering during a period of time each day as follows:
(1) If the Direct License Share is calculated on a subscriber location-by subscriber location basis, during a continuous 12-hour period to be selected by the Licensee for each location for the month for which the payment is made, provided that each such location’s hours of operation fall entirely within the selected 12-hour period, or if such location is in operation for more than 12 hours per day, the selected 12-hour period consists of hours the location is in operation, including its main hours of operation; or
(2) If the Direct License Share is calculated on a uniform basis for all locations, during the hours of 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. local time; and
(B) The denominator is the total play frequency (as defined in § 370.4(b) of this chapter) for the Business Establishment Service offering between the same hours as used in the numerator.
(4) The Direct License Share reduction in paragraph (a)(3) of this section is available to a Licensee only if the Licensee provides the Collective, by no later than the due date for the relevant payment under § 384.4(c), a list of each Copyright Owner from which the Licensee claims to have a direct license of rights to Excluded Recordings that is in effect for the month for which the payment is made and of each sound recording for which the Licensee takes the reduction, identified by featured artist name, sound recording title, and International Standard Recording Code (ISRC) number or, if the ISRC is not available and feasible, album title and copyright owner name. Notwithstanding § 384.5, the Collective may disclose such information as reasonably necessary for it to confirm whether a claimed direct license exists and claimed sound recordings are properly excludable.
(5) For purposes of paragraph (a)(3) of this section, Performance means:
(i) Except as discussed in paragraph (a)(5)(ii) of this section, a Performance is an instance in which any portion of a sound recording is publicly performed to a Business Establishment Service subscriber location within the United States (e.g., the delivery of any portion of a single track from a compact disc to one subscriber location).
(ii) An instance in which a portion of a sound recording is publicly performed to a Business Establishment Service subscriber location within the United States is not a Performance if it both:
(A) Makes no more than incidental use of sound recordings including, but not limited to, brief musical transitions in and out of commercials or program segments, brief use during news, talk and sports programming, brief background use during disk jockey announcements, brief use during commercials of sixty seconds or less in duration, or brief use during sporting or other public events; and
(B) Does not contain an entire sound recording and does not feature a particular sound recording of more than thirty seconds (as in the case of a sound recording used as a theme song), except for ambient music that is background at a public event.
(b) Minimum fee. Each Licensee shall pay a minimum fee of $25,000 for each calendar year of the License Period in which it makes Ephemeral Recordings for use to facilitate transmissions under the limitation on exclusive rights specified by 17 U.S.C. § 114(d)(1)(C)(iv), whether or not it does so for all or any part of the year. These minimum fees shall be nonrefundable, but shall be fully creditable to royalty payments due under paragraph (a) of this section for the same calendar year (but not any subsequent calendar year).
(c) Other royalty rates and terms. This part 384 does not apply to persons or entities other than Licensees, or to Licensees to the extent that they make other types of ephemeral recordings beyond those set forth in paragraph (a) of this section. For ephemeral recordings other than those governed by paragraph (a) of this section, persons making such ephemeral recordings must pay royalties, to the extent (if at all) applicable, under 17 U.S.C. § 112(e) or as prescribed by other law, regulation or agreement.