Re:Sound Tariff 4 — Satellite Radio Royalties

Summary#

Re:Sound Tariff 4 – Satellite Radio Services (2019-2021) sets the money satellite radio companies must pay Re:Sound for playing recorded music to Canadian subscribers during January 1, 2019 to December 31, 2021. The tariff and its details were published in the Canada Gazette on December 7, 2024.

What it does#

• Sets monthly royalty rates that a satellite radio service must pay Re:Sound:
  • January 1, 2019 to April 28, 2020: 3.63% of service revenues, with a minimum of 36¢ per subscriber.
  • April 29, 2020 to December 31, 2021: 3.71% of service revenues, with a minimum of 37¢ per subscriber.
• Requires services to pay royalties by the first day of each month using a “reference month” that is the second month before the month being paid for.
• Requires monthly reports of subscriber counts and revenue breakdowns (subscriptions, advertising, sponsorships, other).
• Requires detailed monthly reporting of every sound recording played (date, time, track and performer info), with additional metadata where commercially available.
• Sets deadlines for music-report delivery: generally no later than 10 business days after receiving the supplier’s report, and in any case no later than 45 days plus 10 business days after month end.
• Requires keeping records: for usage details six months, and for revenue/subscriber records six years.
• Allows Re:Sound to audit records; if royalties were understated by more than 10%, the service must pay the shortage and the audit costs within 30 days.
• Keeps submitted information confidential but allows sharing with SOCAN, the Copyright Board, other societies for royalty distribution, and when required by law.
• Says the tariff does not cover delivery of sound recordings to commercial subscribers or most internet/cellular streaming and simulcasts, but does cover local relays from a satellite receiver using Wi‑Fi or Bluetooth.
• Interest on late payments is charged daily at 1% above the Bank Rate (as published by the Bank of Canada), non‑compounding.

Who's affected#

• Re:Sound (the music licensing collective receiving the royalties) and collective rights partners like SOCAN.
• Multi‑channel subscription satellite radio services licensed in Canada — for example, Sirius XM Canada Inc. (the tariff notes its music-report supplier is Sirius XM Radio Inc.).
• Indirectly, performers, record companies, and composers whose recorded music is in Re:Sound’s repertoire.
• Subscribers are not directly charged by the tariff text, but service operators may factor these costs into pricing or service decisions.

Why it matters#

• It determines how much satellite radio companies must pay to license recorded music for Canadian subscribers for the 2019–2021 period.
• That affects how much revenue goes to performers and recording companies, and it can influence a service’s costs and possibly subscription prices.
• The reporting, audit and record-keeping rules create administrative work for services and establish how transparent usage and payments must be.
• The tariff clarifies that internet streaming and commercial uses are treated separately, so the rules here do not cover most online streaming.