parties have one more opportunity to negotiate their own settlement at a settlement conference
scheduled by the CRJs to take place outside the presence of the CRJs. Only then will the CRJs
begin proceedings to set the rates.^3184
The Act also terminated the voluntary negotiation proceeding initiated by the Copyright
Office in January 2004 to set rates for the 2005-2006 period for eligible nonsubscription
services.^3185 On Feb. 8, 2005, as required by the Act, the Copyright Office published a notice
that the rates and terms for the statutory licenses in effect on Dec. 31, 2004, for new subscription
services, eligible nonsubscription services, and services exempt under Section 114(d)(1)(C)(iv),
as well as the rates and terms for small webcasters published in the Federal Register under the
authority of the SWSA for the years 2003-2004, would remain in effect for at least 2005.^3186 On
Feb. 16, 2005, again as required by the Act, the Copyright Office published a notice initiating a
proceeding, and requesting petitions to participate therein, to establish or adjust rates and terms
for the statutory licenses for new subscription services and eligible nonsubscription services for
the period commencing Jan. 1, 2006 through Dec. 31, 2010.^3187
After two years of testimony, on May 1, 2007, the CRB published in the Federal Register
its final rule and order setting forth its decision as to the royalties that “Commercial Webcasters”
(i.e., non-interactive new subscription services and eligible nonsubscription services, including
simultaneous digital audio retransmissions of over-the-air AM or FM radio broadcasts) must pay
to stream copyrighted music over the Internet. The new rates abandoned the existing percentage-
of-revenue scheme in favor of an annual flat per-station rate structure up to a specified cap,
coupled with a per-performance rate for services that exceed the cap, where “performance” is
defined as the streaming of one song to one listener. The annual per-channel and per-station rate
for non-commercial webcasters not exceeding 159,140 aggregate tuning hours per month and for
Commercial Webcasters was set at $500 per year. The per-performance rates for transmissions
in excess of that limit by non-commercial webcasters, and for any transmissions by Commercial
Webcasters, retroactive to Jan. 1, 2006, were set at:
$0.0008 for 2006
$0.0011 for 2007
$0.0014 for 2008
$0.0018 for 2009
$0.0019 for 2010(^3184) Allison Kidd, “The Beginning of the End of the Internet Radio Royalty Dispute,” Journal of Internet Law, Oct.
2005, at 15, 22.
(^3185) 69 Fed. Reg. 689 (Jan. 6, 2004).
(^3186) 70 Fed. Reg. 6736 (Feb. 8, 2005).
(^3187) 70 Fed. Reg. 7970 (Feb. 16, 2005).