Canada Gazette, Part I, Volume 159, Number 22: SUPPLEMENT 1

May 31, 2025

SUPPLEMENT 1 Vol. 159, No. 22

Canada Gazette

Part I

OTTAWA, Saturday, May 31, 2025

COPYRIGHT BOARD

Re:Sound Commercial Radio Tariff (2009-2025)

Citation: Re:Sound Commercial Radio Tariff (2009-2025), 2025 CB 1-T

See also: Re:Sound Commercial Radio Tariff (2009-2025), 2025 CB 1

Published pursuant to section 70.1 of the Copyright Act

Greg Gallo
Acting Secretary General
1‑833‑860‑7131 (toll-free number)
1‑833‑369‑0396 (TTY)
registry-greffe@cb-cda.gc.ca (email)

RE:SOUND COMMERCIAL RADIO TARIFF (2009-2025)

Short Title

1. This tariff may be cited as the Re:Sound Commercial Radio Tariff (2009-2025).

Definitions

2. In this tariff,

“collective societies”
means SOCAN, Re:Sound, CSI, Connect/SOPROQ and Artisti; (« sociétés de gestion »)
“device”
means any device capable of receiving and playing a file, including a computer, digital media player, cellular phone, smartphone, or tablet; (« appareil »)
“file”
means a digital file of a sound recording of a musical work or a part thereof, whether or not that sound recording has been published, is in the public domain, is eligible to receive equitable remuneration or is within the repertoire of Re:Sound; (« fichier »)
“gross income”
means the gross amounts paid by any person for the use of one or more broadcasting services or facilities provided by a station’s operator, including the value of any goods or services provided by any person in exchange for the use of such services or facilities, and the fair market value of non-monetary consideration (e.g. barter or “contra”), but excluding the following:
  • (a) income accruing from investments, rents or any other business unrelated to the station’s broadcasting activities. However, income accruing from any allied or subsidiary business that is a necessary adjunct to the station’s broadcasting services and facilities or which results in their being used, including the gross amounts received by a station pursuant to turn-key contracts with advertisers, shall be included in the “gross income”;
  • (b) amounts received for the production of a program that is commissioned by someone other than the station and which becomes the property of that person;
  • (c) simulcasting income;
  • (d) the recovery of any amount paid to obtain the exclusive national or provincial broadcast rights to a sporting event, if the station can establish that the station was also paid normal fees for station time and facilities; and
  • (e) amounts received by an originating station acting on behalf of a group of stations, which do not constitute a permanent network and which broadcast a single event, simultaneously or on a delayed basis, that the originating station subsequently pays out to the other stations participating in the broadcast. These amounts paid to each participating station are part of that station’s “gross income”; (« revenus bruts »)
“low-use station (sound recordings)”
means a station that:
  • (a) broadcasts published sound recordings of musical works for less than 20 % of its total broadcast time (excluding production music) during the reference month; and
  • (b) keeps and makes available to Re:Sound complete recordings of its last 90 broadcast days; (« station utilisant peu d’enregistrements sonores »)
“month”
means a calendar month; (« mois »)
“production music”
means music used in interstitial programming such as commercials, public service announcements and jingles; (« musique de production »)
“reference month”
means the second month before the month for which royalties are being paid; (« mois de référence »)
“service provider”
means a professional service provider which may be retained by a collective society to assist in its operations including the conduct of an audit, maintenance or improvements to its database or other information technology systems, or the distribution of royalties to rights holders; (« prestataire de services »)
“simulcast”
means the simultaneous, substantially real-time communication of an over-the-air broadcast signal to which this tariff applies, via the Internet or other digital network, to a device, which is materially identical to the original signal and over which the recipient exercises no control over the content or the timing of the communication. For example, the recipient cannot skip, pause, rewind or fast-forward the communication of a file or influence the content of the communication by indicating a preference for a musical genre, artist or sound recording. For greater clarity, substitution of advertising from the over-the-air broadcast signal constitutes the simultaneous, substantially real-time communication of an over-the-air broadcast signal to which this tariff applies, via the Internet or other digital network, to a device, which is materially identical to the original signal and over which the recipient exercises no control over the content or the timing of the communication; (« diffusion simultanée »)
“simulcasting income”
includes all direct and indirect revenues of a station’s simulcasts in Canada, including, but not limited to:
  • (a) user revenues, which mean all payments made by, on behalf of, or to enable, users to access the simulcast, including, but not limited to, subscriber fees, connect time charges, access or activation fees and any administrative fees, whether made directly to the station broadcaster or to any entity under the same or substantially the same ownership, management or control, or to any other person, firm or corporation including, but not limited to, any partner or co-publisher of the station broadcaster, pursuant to an agreement or as directed or authorized by any agent or employee of the station broadcaster; and
  • (b) sponsor revenue, which means all payments made by or on behalf of sponsors, advertisers, program suppliers, content providers, or others in connection with the simulcast including, but not limited to, advertising included within the simulcast or played upon selecting a link to the simulcast, or on banner adverts on media players and pop-up windows associated with media players whilst the media player is delivering the simulcast, payments associated with syndicated selling, on-line franchising, associate or affiliate programs, bounty, e-commerce or other revenue including revenue from the sale, design, development, manufacture, rental or installation of receiving devices and any other hardware and accessories used in the reception of the simulcast and also includes the value of any goods or services received from any source as barter in connection with the simulcast including, but not limited to, barter received in exchange for providing advertising time or space;

For greater certainty, simulcasting income includes all income accruing from any allied or subsidiary business that is a necessary adjunct to the simulcast and which results in the use of the simulcast, including the gross amounts received by the station broadcaster pursuant to a turn-key contract with an advertiser; (« revenu provenant de la diffusion simultanée »)

“year”
means a calendar year. (« année »)

Application

3. (1) This tariff sets the royalties to be paid each month by commercial radio stations to communicate to the public by telecommunication in Canada published sound recordings embodying musical works and performers’ performances of such works in Re:Sound’s repertoire by over-the-air radio broadcasting and simulcast.

(2) This tariff does not apply to the performance in public of published sound recordings, or to a communication to the public by telecommunication in connection with a pay audio signal, satellite radio signal, or non-interactive or semi-interactive webcast or stream. For greater certainty, this tariff does not apply to the communication to the public by telecommunication of sound recordings to end-users via the Internet or another digital network, to a device, except by simulcast.

Special Royalty Rate

4. Pursuant to paragraph 72(2)(a) of the Copyright Act, notwithstanding sections 5 and 6, commercial radio stations shall pay $100 on the first $1.25 million of annual advertising revenues.

Royalties payable for over-the-air broadcasts

5. A low-use station shall pay to Re:Sound, on its gross income for the reference month,

6. Except as provided in section 5, a station shall pay to Re:Sound on its gross income for the reference month,

Royalties payable for simulcasts

7. A low-use station shall pay to Re:Sound, on its simulcasting income for the reference month,

8. Except as provided in section 7, a station shall pay to Re:Sound, on its simulcasting income for the reference month,

Taxes

9. All royalties payable under this tariff are exclusive of any applicable federal, provincial or other governmental taxes or levies of any kind.

Reporting Requirements

10. No later than the first day of each month, a station shall pay the royalties for that month and report for the reference month:

11. At any time during the period set out in subsection 13(2), Re:Sound may require the production of any contract granting rights referred to in section (e) of the definition of “gross income,” together with the billing or correspondence relating to the use of these rights by other parties.

Information on Repertoire Use

12. (1) No later than 14 days after the end of the month to which the information relates, a station shall provide to Re:Sound the full sequential lists of all published sound recordings embodying musical works or parts thereof, broadcast during each day of the previous month. For greater clarity, sequential list reporting requires full music use reporting for each day of the month, for 365 days per year. Each entry shall include the following information, where available:

(2) The information set out in subsection (1) shall be provided electronically, in Excel format or in any other format agreed upon by Re:Sound and the station, with a separate field for each piece of information required in subsection (1) other than the cue sheets which are to be used to insert the relevant music use information into each field of the report.

Records and Audits

13. (1) A station shall keep and preserve, for a period of six months after the end of the month to which they relate, records from which the information set out in section 12 can be readily ascertained.

(2) A station shall keep and preserve, for a period of six years after the end of the year to which they relate, records from which the information set out in section 10 can be readily ascertained.

(3) Re:Sound may audit these records at any time during the period set out in subsection (1) or (2), on reasonable notice and during normal business hours.

(4) Re:Sound shall, upon receipt, supply a copy of the report of the audit to the station that was audited and to the other collective societies.

(5) If an audit discloses that royalties owed to Re:Sound have been understated in any month by more than 10%, the station that was subject to the audit shall pay the reasonable costs of the audit within 30 days of the demand for such payment. The amount of any understatement shall be paid within 30 days of the demand for such payment.

Confidentiality

14. (1) Subject to subsections (2) and (3), information received from a station pursuant to this tariff shall be treated in confidence, unless the station that supplied the information consents in writing and in advance to each proposed disclosure of its information.

(2) Information received from a station pursuant to this tariff may be shared:

(3) Where confidential information is shared with service providers as per paragraph 2(a), those service providers shall sign a confidentiality agreement.

(4) Subsection (1) does not apply to information that is publicly available, to aggregated information, or to information obtained from someone other than the station that supplied the information and who is not under an apparent duty of confidentiality to that station with respect to the supplied information.

Adjustments

15. Adjustments in the amount of royalties owed (including excess payments), as a result of the discovery of an error or otherwise, shall be made on the date the next royalty payment is due.

Interest on Late Payments

16. Any amount not received by the due date shall bear interest from that date until the date the amount is received. Interest shall be calculated daily, at a rate equal to 1% above the Bank Rate effective on the last day of the previous month (as published by the Bank of Canada). Interest shall not compound.

Addresses for Notices, etc.

17. (1) Anything addressed to Re:Sound shall be sent by mail to 175 Bloor Street East, Suite 703, South Tower, Toronto, Ontario M4W 3R8 or by email at radio@resound.ca, or to any other address or email address of which a station has been notified in writing.

(2) Anything addressed to a station shall be sent to the last address or email address of which Re:Sound has been notified in writing.

Delivery of Notices and Payments

18. (1) A notice may be delivered by hand, by postage-paid mail, by email or by file transfer protocol (FTP). A payment may be made by credit card or delivered by hand, by postage-paid mail or by electronic bank transfer (EBT). Where a payment is delivered by EBT, the associated reporting required under section 10 shall be provided concurrently to Re:Sound by email.

(2) The information set out in sections 10 and 12 shall be sent by email.

(3) Anything mailed in Canada shall be presumed to have been received four business days after the day it was mailed.

(4) Anything sent by email, by FTP or by EBT shall be presumed to have been received the day it was transmitted.

Transitional Provisions

19. Any amount that is otherwise due that pertains to the rate increases pursuant to this tariff shall be paid no later than August 31, 2025. Any late payment is subject to section 16.

20. If records of a station’s simulcasting income are not available for periods prior to approval of this tariff, for the purposes of calculating its payments pursuant to sections 7 and 8, a station shall use the most recent year for which records are available and apply the applicable rates in accordance with the following formula for calculating royalties owing: