Public Broadcasters Gain Music Royalty Certainty As CPB Nears Closure.

Public broadcasters are facing unprecedented uncertainty after they lost federal dollars earlier this year. That change has also brought the impending closure of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB). But before the not-for-profit turns the lights out for good, they are helping local radio stations remove at least one financial unknown.

CPB has reached agreements with all five major performing rights organizations, including ASCAP, BMI, SESAC, the Harry Fox Agency, and Global Music Rights. It means public broadcasters will avoid what can be years of expensive negotiations and instead have some near-term certainty about how much they will pay in music royalties. The deals also ensure stations will have access to the music in each of the organizations’ repertoires through Dec. 31, 2027.

Just like in commercial radio, the music featured in public media programming requires a public performance license from the composers of that music, most of whom have consolidated their rights into the performing rights organizations. Financial terms of CPB’s deals with the five were not made public. But stations will still need to sign licensing agreements.

“Over the past several months, CPB has worked closely with the performing rights organizations to secure these licenses so that stations can continue to bring music to the communities they serve — without interruption or additional cost,” said Patricia Harrison, President and CEO of CPB. “At a time when so many stations are struggling to survive following congressional rescission of federal funding, CPB is proud to lift this financial burden and ensure that audiences nationwide can continue to experience the music that connects us.”

The new arrangement also offers some stability for the music owners, since it remains unclear how they will negotiate deals with broadcasters in the years to come. For decades, CPB has assumed the responsibility of negotiating and administering multi-year agreements on behalf of the entire public media system — securing rates, ensuring compliance, and covering the administrative costs of licensing and monitoring more than 500 stations nationwide.

By handling these agreements systemwide, CPB has also saved stations millions of dollars annually, both through reduced fees and by eliminating the need for each station to manage its own complex and costly licensing process.

Covering Streaming Fees

Separately, CPB also says it will pay for the first two years of the upcoming agreement with SoundExchange, securing digital performance rights for public radio through Dec. 31, 2027. The announcement comes ahead of the annual Public Radio Music Day, scheduled for Wednesday (Oct. 29).

SoundExchange, NPR and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting announced in May that they had struck a proposed settlement that includes higher rates for the 2026 to 2030 period covered by the deal. Under the tentative deal, public broadcasters will pay $950,000 in 2026 with that fee rising by $25,000 per year until it reaches $1.05 million in 2030 — as long as the total music aggregate tuning hours of all its websites remain below a combined 310 million hours for all public broadcasters. The number includes an annual minimum fee for each public broadcaster as well as additional usage fees for certain stations.

The Copyright Royalty Board is currently taking comments on the proposed settlement, and public broadcasters and SoundExchange have urged the judges to quickly approve the agreement.

“In everything we do, we are guided by our mission to strengthen and advance public media’s ability to serve the American people,” said Harrison.

Most of CPB’s staff exited at the end of September. A small transition team remains in place through January 2026 to winddown operations. It said one of the things it hoped to accomplish before going dark was to reach music licensing agreements.