How much do college and public radio stations pay to stream online?

Most noncommercial webcasters — the public and college stations that simulcast their signal online — owe SoundExchange a flat $1,000 minimum fee per station or channel each year, which covers roughly 159,140 listener hours a month before any per-play charge applies, according to SoundExchange's published rate schedule for the current cycle. Only listening beyond that threshold triggers the per-performance rate.

That single number sits inside a much larger machine: a federal rate-setting process, a licensing statute, and a nonprofit collection agency that most people who work in radio rarely have to think about until a station adds a stream. Here is how the pieces fit together.

What is SoundExchange, and why does a radio station pay it at all?

SoundExchange is the organization the U.S. Copyright Office designated to collect and distribute royalties under the statutory license for digital audio transmissions of sound recordings — the license created by Section 114 of the Copyright Act. The Copyright Office's own licensing overview describes its Licensing Section as the body that collects these statutory royalties, while directing rate and term questions to the Copyright Royalty Board.

The obligation exists because U.S. law treats internet transmission of a recording differently than an over-the-air broadcast. A terrestrial AM/FM signal does not trigger a sound-recording performance royalty in the United States; a webcast or online simulcast of that same signal does. That is why a college station can play a song on its transmitter for free in performance-royalty terms, then owe SoundExchange the moment the identical stream goes out over the internet.

How much do noncommercial stations actually pay to stream?

For noncommercial webcasters — the category that covers public and college radio's internet simulcasts and internet-only channels — SoundExchange's current rate schedule sets the per-performance rate at $0.0025, the same figure listed for 2024 and 2025. A station's first 159,140 aggregate tuning hours each month are covered by the $1,000 annual minimum, which is due by January 31 and credited against whatever a station accrues over the rest of the calendar year. Only listening above that monthly threshold adds a per-performance charge on top of the minimum.

In practice, that structure means a small college station streaming to a modest online audience can operate for a full year on the $1,000 minimum alone, while a public radio network with a large digital audience will owe more once its aggregate listening consistently clears the monthly threshold.

What do commercial webcasters and satellite radio pay by comparison?

Commercial webcasters fall under a separate rate class. SoundExchange's schedule lists $0.0025 per performance for nonsubscription commercial webcasting and $0.0032 per performance for subscription transmissions in the current year — figures that have ticked up slightly from 2024, when the subscription rate stood at $0.0031. Satellite radio, preexisting subscription services, and business-establishment services (the licensed background-music feeds piped into stores and restaurants) each sit in their own statutory categories with their own terms, a structure SoundExchange's licensing materials attribute to the four service classes Section 114 defines.

Who sets these rates, and are they settled through 2030?

Rates are set by the Copyright Royalty Board, a three-judge panel housed at the Library of Congress that periodically reconsiders webcasting rates in proceedings it names by cycle — the current one, covering 2026 through 2030, is known as Web VI. The board's own announcements page shows the proceeding was still active well into 2026: judges scheduled supplemental closing arguments for February 13, 2026, after a change in the panel's composition required the process to be redone in part. The board had also solicited public comment on proposed rates and terms for the 2026–2030 period back in May 2025.

The rate itself is only part of what a station owes for airplay. SoundExchange's royalty is a sound-recording performance right that exists alongside, not instead of, the songwriter and publisher royalties collected by performing-rights organizations like ASCAP and BMI for the underlying composition. A station streaming online typically needs both kinds of licenses in place — one for the recording, one for the composition — because the two royalties compensate different rights holders under different sections of copyright law, a distinction SoundExchange's own FAQ page draws explicitly, noting that satellite radio providers and webcasters pay SoundExchange for use of the statutory license regardless of what they already pay ASCAP, BMI, or similar organizations.

That means the per-performance figures stations are already being invoiced under are current, but the full multi-year determination for the 2026–2030 term had not been finalized as of the board's most recent posted announcements — a detail that matters for any station budgeting several years ahead on the assumption that today's rate is locked in through the decade.

Where does the money go after a station pays?

SoundExchange splits collected royalties between featured artists and the sound-recording copyright owners, typically record labels, after deducting an administrative fee the organization describes as 4 to 6 percent — which it characterizes as the lowest administrative fee of any major collective management organization in the world. More than 3,600 services contribute into that pool, spanning satellite radio, webcasters, and digital cable music providers, per SoundExchange's own account of its operations. Distributions to artists and labels go out quarterly, in March, June, September, and December, with monthly payment available once an account has accrued more than $100 in royalties.

For a related programming perspective, read How does a song actually get added to college radio rotation?.