SoundExchange Submits Satellite Radio Royalty Proposal

Wants Higher Royalties

SOUNDEXCHANGE is proposing that XM SATELLITE RADIO and SIRIUS SATELLITE RADIO pay music royalties starting at 10% of revenues and rising during the next six-year license term ending in 2012. SOUNDEXCHANGE's submission to the COPYRIGHT ROYALTY BOARD is the first shot in a 12- to 18-month process to determine what XM and SIRIUS' rate for music royalties will be.

"The essence of satellite radio is music," Exec. Dir. JOHN SIMSON said in a presss release accompanying the filing. "Without music, XM and SIRIUS would not exist. We are asking simply that these companies recognize our substantial contribution to their business by paying a fair price to artists and record labels for their creativity and investment.

"The rate that the satellite radio providers seek in their submission is demeaning to artists and labels. When independent research shows music is the core of their business, and when they have the ability to pay $500 million to HOWARD STERN (and hundreds of millions to other non-music content providers), it is more than a stretch to regard their proposal as serious or fair. They clearly want to pay less than the true value of these works, forcing artists and copyright owners to subsidize their acquisition of other content."

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