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Noncommercial Educational Webcaster

This category is for noncommercial services which (1) offer nonsubscription transmissions, (2) are primarily operated by students, and (3) owned by accredited educational institutions. Rates and terms are described in full at 37 CFR 380 Subpart C. The Copyright Royalty Board’s determination for 2016–2021 webcasting rates can be found here.

2024

2024 Memo
Annual Minimum Fee Forms (SOAs), for 2023 and prior years

2023

2023 Memo
Annual Minimum Fee Forms (SOAs), for 2022 and prior years

2022

2022 Memo
Annual Minimum Fee Forms (SOAs), for 2022 and prior years


1) Eligibility Requirements: Noncommercial Educational Webcasters must (1) be a “noncommercial” service, (2) not a “public broadcasting entity” qualified to receive funding from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting pursuant to the criteria set forth in 47 U.S.C. 396, (3) be directly operated by (or is affiliated with and officially sanctioned by) a domestically accredited primary or secondary school, college, university or other post-secondary degree-granting educational institution, and (4) have its operations substantially staffed by the applicable educational institution’s students.

2) Minimum Fees and Minimum Fee SOA:

  1. Amount: $700 in 2024, per station or channel. All payments must be accompanied by a signed and completed minimum fee Statement of Account.
  2. Recuperability of Minimum Fee: The minimum fee is credited against monthly liability accrued within the same calendar year. Services do not submit additional payment for that year until they have exceeded the minimum fee.
  3. Due date: Annual, on or before January 31. New services beginning streaming on or after February 1 are required to pay minimum fees within 45 days after the end of the month in which streaming first occurs.

3) Liability Rate, Payment, and Monthly SOA:

  1. Rate: 2011-2015: Any listenership in excess of 159,140 aggregate tuning hours (“ATH”) monthly (per station or channel) accrues liability at a per performance rate as described below. Services unable to calculate actual total performances may assume 12 performances per hour to calculate the amount of performances. 2016-2020: Services that exceed the monthly threshold (159,140 ATH) must transition to operating as a noncommercial webcaster (CRB). Please contact directly for more information.
    1. 2011: $0.0017
    2. 2012: $0.0020
    3. 2013: $0.0022
    4. 2014: $0.0023
    5. 2015: $0.0025
    6. 2016-2020: $0.0017 per performance, 2017-2020 rates are subject to increases based upon the Consumer Price Index.
  2. Payment and Statements of Account: Services must submit a Statement of Account for each month, calculating the liability owed for that month, within 45 days after the end of that month, accompanied by any payment indicated on the form (if any).
    1. Services are encouraged to use Licensee Direct for ALL submissions.
    2. If no payment is owed, Statements of Account may be submitted via e-mail as a PDF to [email protected], or via fax to 202.640.5883.
    3. If payment is owed, the Statement of Account (accompanied by payment) should be mailed, if using regular mail to SoundExchange, Inc., P.O. Box #715202, Philadelphia, PA 19171-5202. If you are using overnight delivery send to: Lockbox Services #0075202 SoundExchange, Inc. MAC Y1372-045 401 Market Street, Philadelphia, PA 19106
    4. Payment must be in the form of a check, money order, or direct bank wire (or ACH payment). For assistance in delivering money via bank wire, please contact SoundExchange at 202.640.5858 or e-mail us at [email protected].

4) Reports of Use:

  1. Reporting Waiver: Services which did not exceed a monthly listenership of 80,000 ATH in the previous calendar year (approximately 150 listeners each listening one hour per day), and do not reasonably expect to exceed the same threshold in the applicable calendar year may waive the requirement to submit Reports of Use for the applicable calendar year by timely submitting an election (using the minimum fee Statement of Account) and a $100 reporting waiver fee. Services with multiple stations or channels only submit a single $100 waiver fee per applicable year.
  2. Sample Reporting. Services which did not exceed a monthly average of 159,140 ATH more than once in the previous calendar year have the following Reports of Use obligations:
    1. Frequency of Submission. Annually, on or before January 31 of the subsequent year. Services should submit one Report of Use for each calendar quarter of activity during the applicable calendar year (with a maximum of four per station or channel).
    2. Content. Reports of Use must contain a sample consisting of all sound recordings accruing performance liability within any two seven-consecutive-day periods during the calendar quarter.
      1. Identifying Information. Each track listing must include the following:
        1. Name of Track as listed on the recording
        2. Name of Artist as listed on the recording
        3. ISRC as listed on the recording, or if unavailable, the combination of both the album name and the marketing label as listed on the recording
        4. Audience Measurement. Each track must have associated with it the play frequency (i.e. “spins”) of the track during the quarter. If the service has the ability to also report ATH and program or channel name, or the ability to provide actual total performances per track, it is encouraged to do so.
  3. All Other Noncommercial Educational Webcasters:
    1. Frequency of Submission. Quarterly, within 45 days after the end of each quarter.
    2. Content. Reports of Use must contain a complete census of all sound recordings accruing performance liability within the month.
      1. Identifying Information. Each track listing must include the following:
        1. Name of Track as listed on the recording
        2. Name of Artist as listed on the recording
        3. ISRC as listed on the recording, or if unavailable, the combination of both the album name and the marketing label as listed on the recording
        4. Audience Measurement. Each track must have associated with it the play frequency (i.e. “spins”) of the track during the quarter. If the service has the ability to also report ATH and program or channel name, or the ability to provide actual total performances per track, it is encouraged to do so.
      2. Inclusion of ATH in Reporting. If a service is required to submit census-level reporting for more than one calendar year, it is required thereafter to also include either actual total performances per track or the total ATH of the calendar quarter.
  4. Format and Delivery Specifications. Reports of Use are required to be electronically submitted in one of the following ways:
    1. E-mail to [email protected]. This method is preferred for all services if the Report of Use contains fewer than 200,000 lines.
    2. FTP. This method is preferred for services submitting Reports of Use containing greater than 200,000 lines. To request a login ID and a password, please e-mail [email protected].
    3. CD–R, DVD-R, or portable USB drive. If a service is unable to submit Reports of Use via e-mail or FTP, they may be delivered physically using the above media to SoundExchange, ATTN: Royalty Administration, 733 10th St., NW, 10th Floor, Washington, DC 20001.

5) Late Payments and Monthly SOA:
The late fee program is designed to catch all late payments, any statement of account or any report of use on a month to month basis. A Licensee is required to pay a late fee of 1.5% per month (0.75% for Business Establishment Services; increase to 1.0% effective January 1, 2014) for any payment and/or statements of account received by the collective after the due date. Late fees accrue from the due date of this payment, statement of account or report of use until payment and the related statement of account are received by the collective.


Get more information about Reporting Requirements