These new rates may change the minds of the few remaining holdouts that do not stream their over-the-air signal. Until the end of the year, if you own a radio station and you stream, you’ll continue to pay about 25 cents per 100 songs. In 2016, your rate will decrease to 17 cents per 100 songs. That’s about a 30 percent saving from what you’re paying to stream now. After the new rates were released, the NAB issued the following statement: “We are pleased that streaming rates have begun to move in the right direction. Broadcasters want to expand into new distribution platforms; the challenge has been that rates are too high for thousands of local stations. We hope today’s decision alleviates some of the rate burden and will enable more radio stations to stream music, which will benefit artists, songwriters, and our millions of listeners.”
These new rates will have an impact on broadcasters, including the biggest, iHeartMedia. The company issued the following statement on the new rates. “We appreciate the attention the judges took to understand the issues and the dynamics at work. We understand we have a responsibility to use this rate to increase volume, thereby increasing revenues paid to artists and music companies, creating a growth market and supporting services that consumers want and can afford. We believe that the rates the CRB announced today will make it possible to spend more and drive more to build volume – all of which will benefit the artists, the record labels, consumers and the entire music industry. We look forward to working very closely with artists and our partners at the record labels to continue bringing their music to our audiences on whatever platform they want to use.
