Hipgnosis Songs welcomes CRB's decision in streaming appeal

Intellectual property investor Hipgnosis Songs Fund said on Monday that it welcomes the US Copyright Royalty Board's decision to disallow an appeal by various streaming services against its determination to increase mechanical streaming royalty rates for both songwriters and publishers.

Hipgnosis stated the increase, which covered the CRB III period and was incremental between 1 January 2018 and 31 December 2022, will culminate in a 44% uplift in the "all in" statutory minimum rates for streaming paid in the US, rising from 10.5% of streaming revenues prior to 2018 to 15.1% in 2022.

The London-listed group noted that for most of the period since the appeal was launched in 2020, the majority of the increased revenue due to the owner of song copyrights had been withheld, with revenues being paid off at the CRB II rate of 10.5% in most cases.

However, Hipgnosis will now receive US streaming revenues based on the royalty rates set out in CRB III. The company has also not accounted for any withheld revenue since 2020, which was now expected to be received in the coming periods, as money flows from digital service providers to publishers and then copyright owners.

CRB IV, which will determine songwriter payments for 2023-27, was said to be currently underway.

As of 0940 BST, Hipgnosis shares were up 2.51% at 111.12p.

Reporting by Iain Gilbert at Sharecast.com