On February 22 the Copyright Board of Canada issued a decision upholding the royalty rates it set in October 2005 for commercial radio stations to pay to the Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada (SOCAN) and to the Neighbouring Rights Collective of Canada (NRCC). The decision was set aside by the Federal Court of Appeal on October 19, 2006 and sent back to the board "on the basis that it had inadequately explained its reasoning on arriving at royalty increases attributable to the historical undervaluation of music used on radio and the greater efficiencies achieved by the radio broadcasting industry through the use of music."
After reviewing new evidence on the matter, the Copyright Board believes, as it did in 2005, that the value of music to broadcasters has significantly increased since 1987, and the board explained this higher value with the three same factors it used in 2005: broadcasters use more music; music is worth more to the broadcasters than the board previously thought; and commercial radio stations now use music more efficiently. To read the full decision, click here.

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