Survey and Economic Analysis in Music Webcasting Royalty Rate Proceeding

In a recent Copyright Royalty Board (CRB) proceeding, Brattle supported expert testimony on behalf of copyright holders and SoundExchange, a digital performance rights organization that collects fees from music streaming services for the performance of sound recordings. While commercial webcasters argued for lower royalty rates, SoundExchange sought higher royalty rates to ensure fair compensation in the rapidly expanding webcasting market.

Brattle collaborated with Professor Gal Zauberman of the Yale School of Management on a survey assessing the extent to which other services serve as substitutes for webcasting – an analysis central to evaluating the opportunity cost to record labels of licensing sound recordings to webcasters. Our team also evaluated surveys, experimental evidence, and economic analyses submitted by the webcasting services. Ultimately, the CRB ruled in favor of our client, increasing the royalty rates that commercial webcasters were required to pay for the use of sound recordings for the at-issue licensing period by 8 to 17%.