New Broadcast Licensing Rules: Simplification and Automation

The Russian Authors’ Society (RAO) and the All-Russian Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) took part in the conference “Radio in Global Media Competition”, organized by the Russian Academy of Radio. These organizations, which represent the interests of broadcasters in the dialogue with the copyright societies, announced significant changes in the licensing procedure for radio stations.

Key innovations include a transparent betting formula, a fixed rate for the first year of broadcasting with the possibility of its revision on the basis of evidence, a personalized pricing mechanism that takes into account the capabilities of the broadcaster, an expanded set of support measures for broadcasters (including a reduction of 15% and a 25% discount for the first year for new contracts), simplification of licensing of Internet broadcasting, reduction of reporting and automation of the reporting process with the new monitoring system SonicScout PRO. This system, developed with the participation of RAO and WIPO, uses a dataset of 200 million digital fingerprints and neural network algorithms to analyze music and speech content, assess the effectiveness of advertising and provide convenient reports in digital format. The introduction of SonicScout PRO will make reporting much easier for broadcasters, reducing the time spent on its preparation, with the help of an automated service. The changes will come into force after the signing of a new General Agreement with the RAP.