The Next Battle Over Songwriter Streaming Royalties Has Begun. Don’t Expect a Quick Fight
Categoria: Musica
The Copyright Royalty Board proceedings are underway once again, and the stakes are high for songwriters. Here’s how it works.
Por Billboard | 05/10/2026
There’s an important type of royalty owed to songwriters in the United States that operates differently than any other, and the music industry’s latest battle over it began on Monday (Oct. 5). Don’t expect the fight to be a short one. The royalty, called a “mechanical,” is owed to musicmakers when their songs are reproduced into a different medium. The term dates back to the days before recorded music existed, when songs were reproduced onto a cylindrical roll for a player piano to deliver music on demand. Related How Much Have Spotify Bundles Decreased the Mechanical Per-Stream Rate? (Analysis) Hilary Duff to Receive Outstanding Pop Tour of the Year Award at 2026 Billboard Live Music Summit Judge Rules Woman Accused of Shooting at Rihanna & A$AP Rocky's Home Mentally Fit to Stand Trial Though the music industry is now long past the point where using the term “mechanicals” makes sense, it nevertheless stuck. Today, a mechanical royalty can refer to the mechanical reproduction of a song onto a physical object like vinyl records, cassettes and CDs, or the digital reproduction of a song on streaming services or digital stores like iTunes. The United States is the only country in the world that regulates this royalty type in this way, much to the chagrin of just about everyone involved — from music publishers to songwriters to streaming services and more. Everywhere else, these rates are determined by free market negotiations between the company paying the royalty and the company or person receiving it. The National Music Publishers’ Association (NMPA), the trade body for U.S. music publishers and a major player in these proceedings, has long argued for the abolishment of this practice — even going so far as to send a letter to Judiciary Committee leadership in both the U.S. House of Representatives and the Senate in 2024 asking for an overhaul of the system. Every five years, this royalty is reconsidered, and the next go-round begins now. The stakes of this little-understood review, which sits before a trio of judges known as the “copyright royalty board” (CRB), are high. Whatever they determine will set the U.S. mechanical rates for sales and streaming from 2028-2032. This new five-year period has been given the name “Phonorecords V,” or “Phono V,” which refers to the fact that this is the fifth five-year period the CRB has gone through. The sales and streaming parts of Phono V are separated into two distinct processes. The sales side of Phono V has been in progress for months, but the streaming side — which is currently the most popular way to listen to music by far, and thus the most important aspect of the CRB today — begins on Monday. Below, Billboard breaks down the latest Copyright Royalty Board battle and what readers should watch out for. Related Phono V Could Reshape Catalog Valuations for Years. Here’s Why Songwriters Should Pay Attention (Guest Column) What’s at stake? In the U.S., m