Through the cooperative efforts of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), NPR, and the Station Resource Group (SRG), an agreement with SoundExchange (SX) has been struck that defines the terms, conditions, and costs for public broadcasters to provide (music) sound recordings over the internet. This important and comprehensive agreement sets out fair and responsible terms for public radio entities that stream music programming. Without this blanket agreement, stations that play music over the internet must negotiate music rights directly with the holders of each piece of music.

The agreement also defines the type and format of the reports that public radio stations must provide to take advantage of the CPB-SX blanket agreement. To secure the benefits of this agreement, stations will have an obligation to provide quarterly data on usage of their internet streams and accurate playlists of sound recordings played on their websites. These reports will supply SX with the information necessary to make payments to artists and labels.

NPR full member stations are covered for the cost of SoundExchange reporting through their annual NPR membership dues. Non-NPR stations and NPR “non-member” stations that are members of NFCB can enroll in the SoundExchange program for an annual fee.