Jukebox fee hiked
Commissioner Berg: "My
concern was for the small
jukebox operator."
Royalties society official:
"The rate from 1987 on ...
will increase
significantly."
Licensing chief: "We get
calls from operators
saying the guy across the
street isn't licensed, and
what are we going to do
about it?"
By Ray E. Tilley
12
The AMOA's stand on the jukebox
licensing fee issue took its most
severe setback December 10 when
the Copyright Royalty Tribunal
resolved to fix fees to jukebox
operators at the $50 level, phased in
over a seven-year period, after which
the fee given an "inflationary
adjustment" -doubtlessly upward-
to be based on the change in the
consumer price index over that
period.
The AMOA, in arguing the fees
issue before the CRT in 1980, stood
for no increase in the present $8 per
box fee . The association, through its
attorneys, won a Pyrrhic victory
only-in that the $8 fee will remain in
effect for 1981. On January 1, 1982,
however, the fee set by the CRT will
rise to $25 per jukebox; as of 1984,
the $50 fee level will go into effect and
last until 1987, at which time a rate
will be determined to go into effect
with the inflation adjustment
included.
The AMOA issued no comment
on the decision of December 10,
pending its publication in the Federal
Register, which had to be done by
December 31. The association (or
any other party in the matter) had
until January 10, however, to appeal
the CRT action to the U.S. Court of
Appeals, noted AMOA Executive
Vice President Leo Droste.
Quick to comment on the CRT
ruling were officers of the three
performing rights societies-
ASCAP, BMI, and SESAC. Each
was pleased with the fee structure,
which will produce copyright
royalties for performers registered
with their agencies, and the only
discordant note was a comment
from ASCAP General Counsel
Bernard Korman that, if BMI had
joined with the other two in their
stand for a $70 annual fee, the levy
"might wellhave started in 1981."
Otherwise he said the jukebox '
operators had "fared very well. Their
counsel (Nicholas Allen) got a very
good result, with a very weak case."
ASCAP's Korman also com-
mented, "The operators and
• • •
establishment owners can well afford
these modest rates."
AMOA's position before the CRT
in month's-long hearings was that a
decline in jukebox activity over the
past few years should convince the
arbitrating panel to freeze the fee at
$8.
A public vote by the CRT
disclosed a shift from a scale of $30 in
1982, $60 in 1984 to the lower scale
approved by commissioners Berg,
Brennan, and Coulter.
Commissioner Mary Lou Berg
explained, in a conversation with
PLAY METER, her motion to reduce
fees from the $30/ $60 level. "My
concern was and remains for the
small jukebox operator. I tried to
approach that problem with a
graduated scale."
Her original proposal, which found
no support among the other
commissioners, was for a three-
tiered scale: one fee set for operators
of less than 60 jukeboxes, a mid-
range fee for the operators with
more than 60 but less than a given
number, and the highest fee per box
for the largest set of operators.
"There was no initial support for
this, but I continue to believe that it is
the most fair and equitable
approach," said Berg. Without
support for this scheme, she
motioned for the $25/ $50 fee phase-
in which passed.
Of the decision as it stands, she
said, "I'm sure there will be an
appeal. All our work this year is
precedental in nature. In any cse,
you can't please all parties." She
noted that a CRT decision on
distribution of cable television
royalties is already under appeal.
Other commissioners could not
be reached for comment, or declined
to elaborate on the decision until it
became a part of the record in the
Federal Register. Berg, however,
conceded that the fees set were in
the form of a compromise within the
commission.
The fees were not, however, a
compromise between the differing
amounts of $30 per box, sought
PLAY METER, February, 1981