The Copyright Royalty Board has finally issued a determination on U.S. songwriters’ and publishers’ mechanical royalty rates for 2018 to 2022. The ruling increases royalties yearly over the five-year period from 11.4 percent to 15.1 percent by year-end 2022. Royalties will be limited based on the total content cost (TCC), based on key requests from streaming services, and will reinstate a rate ceiling into the royalty calculation. An appendix outlining the latest ruling is available here: bit.ly/3qHtecR
There will now be a 15-day period for rehearing motions before the U.S. Copyright Office must undertake a legal review for any errors—with up to 60 days allowed for completion—after which a determination will be published, with DSP’s given a maximum of six months to make retroactive adjustments.
