Royalty rates rising for Sirius XM Radio

There’s been a lot of noise lately over royalty rates being charged to Pandora and other online radio stations, much of it generated by the internet network itself.

Expect the dull roar surrounding the royalty debate to get a bit louder over the next few days following a decision Friday by the Copyright Royalty Board, which said that music royalties paid by the satellite radio company Sirius XM Radio will go from 8 percent to 9 percent of the company’s gross revenue next year.

It will then increase by 0.5 percent annually through 2017, peaking at 11 percent.

The issue had been raging as a court battle the past two years before the CRB made its decision. It marked the first rate readjustment since 2007, when Sirius and XM were separate companies.

The rate markup comes as satellite radio shows signs of growth and maturity. Subscribers now number 23 million, and the venture has become profitable after a brief period of near-bankruptcy following the 2008 merger.

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