Radio stations rejoice over copyright board’s royalty judgement
27 Aug 2010
The copyright board has settled the royalty rates issue between radio broadcasters and music companies. It ruled adoption of a revenue sharing model through which radio stations will pay a two per cent of their net revenues as royalty fees.
Radio stations used to pay fixed fees between Rs660 per needle hour of music as royalty to music companies. This translated to broadcasters paying a higher share of revenues as royalty fees.
Moreover, the fee was same across stations irrespective of location.
As per the earlier model, royalties around Rs100 crore were paid to music companies every year.
The judgement will bring down these rates to Rs15-20 crore.
The copyright board was authorised to decide on the royalty rates as per a Supreme Court judgment in 2008.
