Royalties for Satellite Radio Companies to Increase Through 2017

The Copyright Royalty Board has ruled to increase royalties for satellite radio services. Sirius XM Radio currently pays 8 percent of its gross revenue in royalties, but this will increase to 11 percent by 2017, reports The New York Times. The satellite radio companies will pay the royalties to nonprofit SoundExchange, which then distributes the royalties to labels and musicians.

“The decision does not cover royalties to music publishers and songwriters, which are negotiated directly. It also does not cover rates for Internet radio, which are in place through 2015 and work under a different, per-stream model,” explains the article.

The Copyright Royalty Board had not increased royalties since 2007, when Sirius and XM were two different companies.

“The news of the royalty rates was not widely publicized until well after the markets closed on Friday,” notes the article. “Sirius closed for the day at $2.99, up nearly 7 percent.”

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