§ 390.3 Annual minimum fees. ( a ) *Amounts.* Subject to paragraph (e) of this section, Licensees shall pay annual minimum fees as follows— ( 1 ) *In general.* Except as provided in paragraph (a)(2) of this section— ( i ) Licensees that have a Unique Sound Recordings Count of 10,000 or less during the relevant Annual Calculation Period shall pay $2,500 and shall be Flat Fee Licensees for the respective Annual Assessment;
( ii ) Licensees that have a Unique Sound Recordings Count of between 10,001 and 25,000 during the relevant Annual Calculation Period shall pay $5,000 and shall be Flat Fee Licensees for the respective Annual Assessment;
( iii ) Licensees that have a Unique Sound Recordings Count of between 25,001 and 50,000 during the relevant Annual Calculation Period shall pay $10,000 and shall be Flat Fee Licensees for the respective Annual Assessment, where such Annual Calculation Period is for the Annual Assessment for the calendar year 2024 or earlier; otherwise such Licensees shall pay $60,000 and shall be Allocated Licensees for the respective Annual Assessment;
( iv ) Licensees that have a Unique Sound Recordings Count of between 50,001 and 100,000 during the relevant Annual Calculation Period shall pay $20,000 and shall be Flat Fee Licensees for the respective Annual Assessment, where such Annual Calculation Period is for the Annual Assessment for the calendar year 2024 or earlier; otherwise such Licensees shall pay $60,000 and shall be Allocated Licensees; and
( v ) Licensees that have a Unique Sound Recordings Count greater than 100,000 during the relevant Annual Calculation Period shall pay an annual minimum fee of $60,000 and shall be Allocated Licensees for the respective Annual Assessment.
( 2 ) *Download store annual fee.* Licensees that engage in covered activities exclusively under authority obtained from licensors of sound recordings to make and distribute permanent downloads of musical works embodied in such sound recordings pursuant to individual download licenses or voluntary licenses shall be Flat Fee Licensees and pay the following amounts: ( i ) $2,500 if the Licensee has a Unique Sound Recordings Count of 50,000 or less during the relevant Annual Calculation Period.
( ii ) $5,000 if the Licensee has a Unique Sound Recordings Count of between 50,001 to 100,000 during the prior Annual Calculation Period.
( iii ) $10,000 if the Licensee has a Unique Sound Recordings Count of between 100,001 to 250,000 during the prior Annual Calculation Period.
( iv ) $20,000 if the Licensee has a Unique Sound Recordings Count of between 250,001 to 500,000 during the prior Annual Calculation Period.
( v ) $60,000 if the Licensee has a Unique Sound Recordings Count of greater than 500,000 during the prior Annual Calculation Period.
( b ) *Annual Calculation Period.* The calculation period for annual minimum fees shall be the 12-month period that ends on the September 30th immediately preceding the start of the assessment period (*e.g.,* the annual minimum fee calculation period for the 2024 Annual Assessment shall be October 1, 2022 to September 30, 2023).
( c ) *Calculation by the MLC.* The MLC will calculate each Licensee's annual minimum fee based on usage reporting received from Licensees pursuant to 17 U.S.C. 115(d)(4). The MLC shall send invoices for the appropriate annual minimum fee to each Licensee. Licensees shall pay the annual minimum fee invoices from the MLC by the later of: ( 1 ) 30 days from receipt of the invoice from the MLC; or
( 2 ) January 15th of the respective Annual Assessment year.
( d ) *New licensees.* ( 1 ) A New Licensee shall remit the lowest annual fee set forth in paragraph (a)(1) or (2) of this section, as applicable, along with its notice of license or notice of nonblanket activity to be attributable to the calendar year in which such Licensee begins engaging in covered activities.
( 2 ) A New Licensee shall initially be deemed a Flat Fee Licensee. When the MLC calculates the Quarterly Allocation with the first calculation period pursuant to § 390.4(b) during which the New Licensee was engaged in covered activities, whether such activities were for all or part of the calculation period, the MLC shall calculate the New Licensee's Unique Sound Recording Count for that calculation period. In the event that such New Licensee has not provided timely reporting, the MLC may instead, in its discretion, use the most recent reporting from that New Licensee for such calculation. If such New Licensee is calculated to have a Unique Sound Recordings Count that exceeds the amount that would qualify it to be a Flat Fee Licensee under paragraph (a)(1) of this section, it shall be deemed an Allocated Licensee for that Quarterly Allocation and the remainder of the calendar year and shall be invoiced and pay the assessment as calculated in § 390.4 for the respective quarters, with such New Licensee's Unique Sound Recordings Count to be included in the Aggregate Sound Recording Count for such quarters.
( 3 ) A New Licensee shall be subject to the provisions of paragraphs (a) through (d) of this section, as applicable, to determine the amount and timing of the annual minimum fees owed for the calendar year following the year when the Licensee begins engaging in covered activities, and for such purposes a New Licensee shall be treated as having a Unique Sound Recordings Count of zero for the Annual Calculation Period if it began engaging in covered activities after the end of the Annual Calculation Period. A New Licensee that has been deemed an Allocated Licensee pursuant to paragraph (e)(2) of this section shall be subject to the provisions of paragraphs (a) through (d) of this section, as applicable, to determine its status as a Flat Fee Licensee or Allocated Licensee, for calendar years following the calendar year in which it is first deemed an Allocated Licensee.
[86 FR 6569, Jan. 22, 2021, as amended at 88 FR 69039, Oct. 5, 2023]