March 10, 2009

By By Ed Christman, N.Y.

With the new statutory rates now in effect, the Harry Fox is gearing up to collect digital mechanical royalties from digital service providers and then send payment to members on May 15. That date represents 45 days after the end of the quarter, which means that it will only include royalty payments from the month of March. The new royalty rates began March 1.

HFA offers new mechanical licensing options for limited downloads, interactive streams, and ringtones through its bulk-licensing program and continues to offer statutory rate mechanical licensing for permanent digital downloads.

The Copyright Royalty Board set the mechanical rate for songs at 9.1 cents, plus 0.2 cent for each additional minute beyond five minutes; ringtones for 24 cents; and limited download and interactive streaming royalty rates are based on a percentage of income from online digital service providers.

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