270.2—Reports of use of sound recordings under statutory license for preexisting subscription services.

(a) General. This section prescribes rules under which preexisting subscription services shall serve copyright owners with notice of use of their sound recordings, what the content of that notice should be, and under which records of such use shall be kept and made available.

(b) Definitions. (1) A Collective is a collection and distribution organization that is designated under the statutory license, either by settlement agreement reached under section 114(f)(1)(A) or section 114(f)(1)(C)(i) of title 17 of the United States Code and adopted pursuant to 37 CFR 251.63(b), or by decision of a Copyright Arbitration Royalty Panel (CARP) under section 114(f)(1)(B) or section 114(f)(1)(C)(ii), or by an order of the Librarian pursuant to 17 U.S.C. 802(f).

(2) A Report of Use of Sound Recordings Under Statutory License is the report of use required under this section to be provided by a Service transmitting sound recordings and making ephemeral phonorecords therewith under statutory licenses.

(3) A Service is a preexisting subscription service, as defined in 17 U.S.C. 114(j)(11).

(c) Service. Reports of Use shall be served upon Collectives that are identified in the records of the Licensing Division of the Copyright Office as having been designated under the statutory license, either by settlement agreement reached under section 114(f)(1)(A) or section 114(f)(1)(C)(i) and adopted pursuant to 37 CFR 251.63(b), or by decision of a Copyright Arbitration Royalty Panel (CARP) under section 114(f)(1)(B) or section 114(f)(1)(C)(ii), or by an order of the Librarian pursuant to 17 U.S.C. 802(f) or pursuant to a settlement agreement reached or statutory license adopted pursuant to section 112(e). Reports of Use shall be served, by certified or registered mail, or by other means if agreed upon by the respective preexisting subscription service and Collective, on or before the forty-fifth day after the close of each month.

(d) Posting. In the event that no Collective is designated under the statutory license, or if all designated Collectives have terminated collection and distribution operations, a preexisting subscription service transmitting sound recordings under statutory license shall post and make available online its Reports of Use. Preexisting subscription services shall post their Reports of Use online on or before the forty-fifth day after the close of each month, and make them available to all sound recording copyright owners for a period of 90 days. Preexisting subscription services may require use of passwords for access to posted Reports of Use, but must make passwords available in a timely manner and free of charge or other restrictions. Preexisting subscription services may predicate provision of a password upon:

(1) Information relating to identity, location and status as a sound recording copyright owner; and

(2) A “click-wrap” agreement not to use information in the Report of Use for purposes other than royalty collection, royalty distribution, and determining compliance with statutory license requirements, without the express consent of the preexisting subscription service providing the Report of Use.

(e) Content. A “Report of Use of Sound Recordings under Statutory License” shall be identified as such by prominent caption or heading, and shall include a preexisting subscription service's “Intended Playlists” for each channel and each day of the reported month. The “Intended Playlists” shall include a consecutive listing of every recording scheduled to be transmitted, and shall contain the following information in the following order:

(1) The name of the preexisting subscription service or entity;

(2) The channel;

(3) The sound recording title;

(4) The featured recording artist, group, or orchestra;

(5) The retail album title (or, in the case of compilation albums created for commercial purposes, the name of the retail album identified by the preexisting subscription service for purchase of the sound recording);

(6) The marketing label of the commercially available album or other product on which the sound recording is found;

(7) The catalog number;

(8) The International Standard Recording Code (ISRC) embedded in the sound recording, where available and feasible;

(9) Where available, the copyright owner information provided in the copyright notice on the retail album or other product (e.g., following the symbol (P), that is the letter P in a circle) or, in the case of compilation albums created for commercial purposes, in the copyright notice for the individual sound recording;

(10) The date of transmission; and

(11) The time of transmission.

(f) Signature. Reports of Use shall include a signed statement by the appropriate officer or representative of the preexisting subscription service attesting, under penalty of perjury, that the information contained in the Report is believed to be accurate and is maintained by the preexisting subscription service in its ordinary course of business. The signature shall be accompanied by the printed or typewritten name and title of the person signing the Report, and by the date of signature.

(g) Format. Reports of Use should be provided on a standard machine-readable medium, such as diskette, optical disc, or magneto-optical disc, and should conform as closely as possible to the following specifications:

(1) ASCII delimited format, using pipe characters as delimiter, with no headers or footers;

(2) Carats should surround strings;

(3) No carats should surround dates and numbers;

(4) Dates should be indicated by: MM/DD/YYYY;

(5) Times should be based on a 24-hour clock: HH:MM:SS;

(6) A carriage return should be at the end of each line; and

(7) All data for one record should be on a single line.

(h) Confidentiality. Copyright owners, their agents and Collectives shall not disseminate information in the Reports of Use to any persons not entitled to it, nor utilize the information for purposes other than royalty collection and distribution, and determining compliance with statutory license requirements, without express consent of the preexisting subscription service providing the Report of Use.

(i) Documentation. All compulsory licensees shall, for a period of at least three years from the date of service or posting of the Report of Use, keep and retain a copy of the Report of Use. For reporting periods from February 1, 1996, through August 31, 1998, the preexisting subscription service shall serve upon all designated Collectives and retain for a period of three years from the date of transmission records of use indicating which sound recordings were performed and the number of times each recording was performed, but is not required to produce full Reports of Use or Intended Playlists for those periods.

Code of Federal Regulations

[69 FR 11527, Mar. 11, 2004, as amended at 70 FR 24310, May 9, 2005]