Attention, noncommercial educational (NCE, a/k/a “public”) broadcasters! If you have been wondering how much you’ll have to pay to broadcast musical compositions this year (and beyond), wonder no more. The rates for 2018 through 2022 were published in the Federal Register on January 19.

For those new to the issue, these rates have been administered by a governmentally appointed decision maker for many decades. Congress has given that decision maker the power to determine those rates and terms for a five-year license term if broadcasters and copyright owners are unable to agree to rates on their own. Currently, that decision maker is a three-judge panel known as the “Copyright Royalty Judges” (i.e. “Judges”).

It is important that you understand what the published rates do and do not cover (so that you know which other licenses you may need to use music in certain ways):

With that background out of way, let’s get to the numbers themselves. We’ll focus on NCE broadcasters not eligible to receive funding from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (“CPB”). If you are a CPB-affiliated broadcaster, contact the CPB directly for more information about your rates – they were the subject of a confidential settlement agreement and have not been publicly disclosed.

For NCE broadcasters not eligible to receive funding from the CPB, there are no big surprises – the rates simply inch up from the current royalties. Non-CPB NCE broadcasters fall into two major rate categories: those affiliated with an accredited university or other educational institution and those that are not.