[Fmpro] Judge Sets ASCAP Streaming Fees

[Christopher Alpiar]

from Billboard today

Judge Sets ASCAP Streaming Fees
May 01, 2008 - Publishing

By Susan Butler, N.Y.

License fees that AOL, RealNetworks and Yahoo! must pay to ASCAP for  
streaming music of the performing rights organization's members have  
now been set by a federal court judge.

The three services, which are parties to a rate-setting proceeding in a
federal District Court in New York, may obtain a non-exclusive blanket  
license from ASCAP for unlimited performances of all songs in the  
PRO's repertoire through Dec. 31, 2009.

The fee for the license is 2.5% of the service's "music-use-adjusted
revenue."

Music-use-adjusted revenue is determined by multiplying the total  
revenue of the licensed business unit (i.e., the digital service's  
business unit that streams music or other content that includes  
music), less customary deductions for advertising sales commissions  
and traffic acquisition costs, by a music-use adjustment fraction.

That fraction is determined by using as a numerator the total number  
of hours music is streamed to users by the service (as currently  
measured by each service) and by using as a denominator the total  
number of hours of use of the service's Web site (as measured by  
comScore or other means approved by the court).

"This historic decision, for the first time, provides a clear  
framework for how the online use of musical works should be  
appropriately valued," says ASCAP CEO John LoFrumento. "This decision  
also provides clear validation of the flexibility and applicability of  
the ASCAP blanket license model relative to the use of musical works  
on the Internet - something the court itself specifically noted in its  
written decision."

The 153-page decision was made public late yesterday.



Christopher Kennedy Alpiar
Cinematic Composer
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