Intercollegiate Broadcast System, Inc. v. Copyright Royalty Board

United States Court of Appeals
FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA CIRCUIT

Argued March 19, 2009 Decided July 10, 2009
Reissued August 7, 2009

No. 07-1123

INTERCOLLEGIATE BROADCAST SYSTEM, INCORPORATED, A
RHODE ISLAND NON-PROFIT CORPORATION AND HARVARD
RADIO BROADCASTING COMPANY, INC., A MASSACHUSETTS
ELEEMOSYNARY CORPORATION,
APPELLANTS

v.

COPYRIGHT ROYALTY BOARD, LIBRARY OF CONGRESS,
APPELLEE

SOUNDEXCHANGE, INC.,
INTERVENOR

Consolidated with 07-1168, 07-1172, 07-1174, 07-1177,
07-1178

Appeals of an Order
of the Copyright Royalty Board

Kenneth D. Freundlich argued the cause for appellant
Royalty Logic, LLC. With him on the briefs was William B.
Colitre.
 2

Christopher J. Wright and David D. Oxenford argued the
causes for appellants Commercial Webcasters and Small
Commercial Webcasters. With them on the briefs were
Jonathan Massey and Kenneth L. Steinthal. Joseph C.
Cavender, Fernando R. Laguarda, and Ronald G. London
entered appearances.

Bruce G. Joseph argued the cause for appellants
Noncommercial Broadcasters. With him on the briefs were Seth
D. Greenstein, Robert S. Schwartz, Karyn K. Ablin, William
Malone, James R. Hobson, and Matthew Schettenhelm.

Mark R. Freeman, Attorney, U.S. Department of Justice,
argued the cause for appellee. With him on the briefs were
Gregory G. Katsas, Assistant Attorney General, and Scott R.
McIntosh and Sarang Vijay Damle, Attorneys. Anthony A.
Yang, Attorney, entered an appearance.

Paul M. Smith argued the cause for intervenor
SoundExchange, Inc. With him on the briefs were Thomas J.
Perrelli, David A. Handzo, and Craig A. Cowie.

Before: SENTELLE, Chief Judge, and ROGERS and GRIFFITH,
Circuit Judges.

Opinion for the Court filed PER CURIAM.

PER CURIAM: Appellants seek review of a final
determination of the Copyright Royalty Judges, setting rates and
terms relating to webcasting. See Digital Performance Right in
Sound Recordings and Ephemeral Recordings (“Order”), 72
Fed. Reg. 24,084 (May 1, 2007). Webcasting is the process of
transmitting sound recordings over the Internet. This case
consolidates five separate appeals. A group of “commercial
webcaster” appellants led by the Digital Media Association
 3

(“DiMA”) argues that the rates for commercial webcasters set
by the Judges were unreasonable and that the absence of a cap
on minimum fees paid per licensee was arbitrary and capricious.
Several “small commercial webcaster” appellants argue that the
Judges’ refusal to permit them to pay royalties as a percentage
of revenues was arbitrary and capricious. “Noncommercial
broadcaster” appellants—including the Collegiate Broadcasters,
Inc., Intercollegiate Broadcasting System, Inc., and the National
Religious Broadcasters Noncommercial Music License
Committee—argue that the Judges set unreasonable rates for
noncommercial webcasters, that they established a $500
minimum fee per station without substantial evidence, and that
they improperly deferred consideration of record-keeping
requirements to a later proceeding. Appellant Royalty Logic,
Inc., a contender to serve as the clearinghouse (or “collective”)
for royalty payments, argues that the Judges exceeded their
statutory authority by naming SoundExchange, Inc. the sole
royalty collective.1 Respondent Copyright Royalty Board
defends the Judges’ determination. (The Board is “the
institutional entity in the Library of Congress that . . . house[s]”
the Judges. 37 C.F.R. § 301.1.) SoundExchange intervened to
defend the Judges’ determination.

Months after the briefing schedule had been set, Royalty
Logic moved to file supplementary briefs on the issue of
whether the appointment of the Copyright Royalty Judges
violated the Appointments Clause of the Constitution of the

1
Another group of appellants, including Bonneville International
Corp. and National Religious Broadcaster Music License Committee,
joined by intervenor National Association of Broadcasters, also filed
briefs in this case. Before oral argument, this court granted the
appellants’ motion for voluntary dismissal and granted the
intervenor’s request to be dismissed as a party. Order Dismissing
Case No. 07-1179 (D.C. Cir. Feb. 27, 2009).
 4

United States. A motions panel of this court granted the motion
“without prejudice to the merits panel deciding whether or not
to consider” the issue, and set a supplemental briefing schedule,
soliciting briefs from Royalty Logic, the Board, and
SoundExchange. Royalty Logic argued that the Judges’
appointment violated the Constitution. SoundExchange and the
Board argued it did not, and argued further that Royalty Logic
had forfeited consideration of the issue by not raising it in initial
briefing before this court. We hold that Royalty Logic has
forfeited the Appointments Clause issue. We vacate the $500
minimum fee for both noncommercials and commercials, and
remand those portions of the determination for reconsideration
by the Copyright Royalty Judges. In all other respects, we
affirm the determination.

I. Background

A. Statutory Background

Recorded music may be protected by two copyrights. One
copyright protects the “musical work” written by a composer
and usually owned by a music publisher. The other protects the
“sound recording” and is owned by the producer of the sound
recording. See 17 U.S.C. §§ 101-102. The copyright owners of
musical works, but not those of sound recordings, have long
enjoyed exclusive rights to public performances of their works.
Id. § 106(4). The practical effect of this scheme is that when
radio stations play a song, they must pay a royalty to the musical
work owner but not the sound recording owner. See id.
§§ 106(4), 114(a).

In 1995, Congress passed the Digital Performance Right in
Sound Recordings Act, Pub. L. No. 104-39, granting the owners
of sound recordings an exclusive right in performance “by
means of a digital audio transmission.” 17 U.S.C. § 106(6); see
 5

Beethoven.com LLC v. Librarian of Cong., 394 F.3d 939, 942
(D.C. Cir. 2005). The Digital Millennium Copyright Act of
1998, Pub. L. No. 105-304, “created a statutory license in
performances by webcast,” to serve Internet broadcasters and to
provide a means of paying copyright owners. Beethoven.com,
394 F.3d at 942; see 17 U.S.C. § 114(d)(2), (f)(2). To govern
the broadcast of sound recordings, Congress also created a
licensing scheme for so-called “ephemeral” recordings, “the
temporary copies necessary to facilitate the transmission of
sound recordings during internet broadcasting.” Beethoven.com,
394 F.3d at 942-43; see 17 U.S.C. § 112(e)(4).

Congress has delegated authority to set rates for these rights
and licenses under several statutory schemes. The most recent,
passed in 2005, directed the Librarian of Congress to appoint
three Copyright Royalty Judges who serve staggered, six-year
terms. See 17 U.S.C. § 801, et seq. These Judges conduct
complex, adversarial proceedings, described in 17 U.S.C. § 803
and 37 C.F.R. § 351, et seq., and ultimately set “reasonable rates
and terms” for royalty payments from digital performances. 17
U.S.C. § 114(f).

In delegating authority, Congress required the Judges to
follow certain statutory guidelines. The schedule of rates and
terms must “distinguish among the different types of eligible
nonsubscription transmission services then in operation and
shall include a minimum fee for each such type of service.” Id.
§ 114(f)(2)(B). Rates should “most clearly represent the rates
and terms that would have been negotiated in the marketplace
between a willing buyer and a willing seller.” Id. “In
determining such rates and terms,” the Judges must “base [their]
decision on economic, competitive and programming
information presented by the parties.” Id. Specifically, they
must consider whether “the service may substitute for or may
promote the sales of phonorecords” or otherwise affect the
 6

“copyright owner’s other streams of revenue.” Id.
§ 114(f)(2)(B)(i). The Judges must also consider “the relative
roles of the copyright owner and the transmitting entity” with
respect to “relative creative contribution, technological
contribution, capital investment, cost, and risk.” Id.
§ 114(f)(2)(B)(ii). Finally, “[i]n establishing such rates and
terms,” the Judges “may consider the rates and terms for
comparable types of digital audio transmission services and
comparable circumstances under voluntary license agreements
described in subparagraph (A).” Id. § 114(f)(2)(B). Identical
statutory language applies to “reasonable rates and terms” for
ephemeral recordings. Id. § 112(e).

B. This Proceeding

The rates and terms for webcasting are established
according to a webcasting statutory license. See 17 U.S.C.
§ 112(e)(4); id. § 114(d)(2), (f)(2). If parties can agree, rates
and terms of a license may be set through voluntary negotiation.
Id. § 114(f)(3). For all parties that do not agree, the Copyright
Royalty Judges conduct adversarial proceedings and issue a
determination. Id. § 803. The resulting rate changes are
retroactive. Id. § 803(d)(2).

This case represents such an adversarial proceeding. The
Judges received notices from 28 parties of their intention to
submit written direct statements at the start of the process, and
another five submitted written direct statements after a final
attempt at negotiation failed. Order, 72 Fed. Reg. at 24,084.
Following discovery, the participants presented testimony from
a total of 39 witnesses. Id. at 24,084-85. Additional written
rebuttal statements were then admitted, followed by more
discovery. Id. at 24,085. At the end of this second discovery
period, participants presented rebuttal testimony from 27
witnesses, and the record was closed. Id. In addition to the
 7

written statements, the Judges “heard 48 days of testimony,
which filled 13,288 pages of transcript, and 192 exhibits were
admitted.” Id. Following the evidentiary phase of the
proceeding, the participants filed proposed findings of fact and
conclusions of law with responses three days later. Id. A week
passed before closing arguments, when the matter was submitted
to the Judges. Id.

The Judges’ initial determination set rates and terms for
digital performances and related ephemeral recordings, and
determined other details of the statutory licenses for commercial
and noncommercial webcasters. Specifically, it designated per
play rates for commercial webcasters that will increase gradually
over the covered period—from January 1, 2006 through
December 31, 2010. Id. at 24,084, 24,096. It also charged all
webcasters a $500 annual minimum fee to cover administrative
costs, recoupable against usage charges. Id. at 24,096. For
noncommercial broadcasters, this minimum fee covers 159,140
aggregate tuning hours (“ATH,” which is the total number of
hours of programming multiplied by the number of listeners per
hour). For any month in which a noncommercial broadcaster’s
ATH exceeds this threshold, it must pay the same per-
performance rates as the commercial webcasters for the excess
ATH. Id. at 24,100. The Judges’ initial determination set terms
for the payment of royalties, including the method of
aggregating payments through SoundExchange as a collective;
set late payment fees; and provided for the form of account
statements, audits, and payment verification. Id. at 24,102-09.
Finally, the Judges decided to leave record-keeping regulations
unchanged, but left open the possibility of their modification in
a future rulemaking. Id. at 24,109-10.

Following the initial determination, many of the participants
filed motions for rehearing, along with written arguments and
responses at the request of the Judges. Id. at 24,085 & n.2. The
 8

Judges denied these motions, but modified the determination in
one important respect: they added an option for commercial
webcasters to pay based on ATH for 2006 and 2007 rather than
per play. Id. at 24,086. Their final determination was published
May 1, 2007. Id. at 24,084.

Most of the parties appealed to this court, which has
jurisdiction under 17 U.S.C. § 803(d)(1). We have power to
modify, vacate, or remand any portion of the Judges’
determination. Id. § 803(d)(3). We vacate the $500 minimum
fee for noncommercials and for commercials, remand those
portions of the determination for reconsideration by the Judges,
and otherwise affirm the determination.

II. Analysis

We review determinations of the Judges under the familiar
standard of the Administrative Procedure Act (“APA”). 17
U.S.C. § 803(d)(3); see 5 U.S.C. § 706. Under the APA, we
uphold the results of adversarial agency proceedings unless they
are arbitrary, capricious, contrary to law, or not supported by
substantial evidence. See 5 U.S.C. § 706(2). Review of
administratively determined rates is “particularly deferential”
because of their “highly technical” nature. E. Ky. Power Coop.
v. FERC, 489 F.3d 1299, 1306 (D.C. Cir. 2007) (quotation
omitted).

A. Appointments Clause Challenge

Before reviewing the substance of the Judges’
determination, we must address a question raised about the
tribunal itself. Nearly a year after appealing the Judges’ order,
and almost three months after filing its opening brief, Royalty
Logic submitted a supplemental brief in which it argued for the
first time that the manner in which the Copyright Royalty Judges
 9

are appointed violates the Appointments Clause of the United
States Constitution. This court allowed the filing “without
prejudice to the merits panel deciding whether or not to consider
the Appointments Clause issue” and directed the Board and
SoundExchange to file responsive supplemental briefs. Supp.
Briefing Order (D.C. Cir. May 30, 2008).

“[T]he Congress may by Law vest the Appointment of
. . . inferior Officers”—a category that all parties agree includes
the Judges—“in the President alone, in the Courts of Law, or in
the Heads of Departments.” U.S. CONST. art. II, § 2, cl. 2.
Congress has entrusted the appointment of the Judges to the
Librarian of Congress. See 17 U.S.C. § 801(a) (“The Librarian
shall appoint 3 full-time Copyright Royalty Judges . . . after
consultation with the Register of Copyrights.”). The Librarian,
of course, is neither the President nor a court of law. Royalty
Logic argues that he is also not a “Head of Department,”
maintaining that under Freytag v. Commissioner, 501 U.S. 868
(1990), only the heads of cabinet-level departments within the
executive branch qualify. According to Royalty Logic, the
Library of Congress is within the legislative branch. The
government and SoundExchange dispute both points. They note
that the Library serves several executive functions and that the
Librarian is subject to appointment and removal by the
President. They also reject the reading of Freytag that limits
“Departments” to those at the cabinet level.

We need not resolve the dispute. As appellees point out,
Royalty Logic has forfeited its argument by failing to raise it in
its opening brief. See Sw. Airlines Co. v. Transp. Sec. Admin.,
554 F.3d 1065, 1072 (D.C. Cir. 2009). It is certainly within our
power to consider Royalty Logic’s challenge. The Freytag
petitioners failed to object to the special trial judge’s
appointment, raising their constitutional argument for the first
time on appeal. But the Court emphasized that its consideration
 10

of the untimely objection was an exercise of discretion, and that
only in “rare cases” is it proper to do so. Freytag, 501 U.S. at
879; see also id. at 893 (Scalia, J., concurring) (noting that the
majority did not accept petitioners’ argument that Appointments
Clause challenges cannot be forfeited).

This is not the rare case that compels us to exercise our
discretion to consider an untimely argument. An Appointments
Clause challenge is “nonjurisdictional,” id. at 878 (majority
opinion), and thus not subject to the axiom that jurisdiction may
not be waived, see NetworkIP, LLC v. FCC, 548 F.3d 116, 120
(D.C. Cir. 2008). And Royalty Logic has not given us any
reason to depart from our normal forfeiture rule. It offers no
justification for its delay. At oral argument, Royalty Logic’s
counsel explained that the issue simply had not occurred to him
until, several months after filing his opening brief, he was
“reading the cases . . . and particularly Freytag,” and concluded
that “this was a foundational and structural issue.” Oral Arg.
Rec. at 1:35-55. But these cases were not new. Freytag was
decided over eighteen years ago, and the most recent case cited
in Royalty Logic’s supplemental brief dates from 2003. See
Royalty Logic Supp. Br. ii-iii. We have cautioned litigants that
“[s]upplemental briefs do not provide an opportunity to convert
review of an agency order into a broadbased . . . constitutional
attack,” and that we will not consider a supplemental brief that
is “nothing more than a poorly disguised attempt to file a second
main brief to advance arguments overlooked in [the party’s] first
main brief.” Plaquemines Port, Harbor & Terminal Dist. v.
Fed. Mar. Comm’n, 838 F.2d 536, 551 (D.C. Cir. 1988).

Nothing in the supplemental briefing (which was allowed
without prejudice to the decision we have now made to hold
Royalty Logic to its forfeiture) persuades us otherwise. To the
contrary, the briefs’ incomplete treatment of the Appointments
Clause issue underscores our decision. For example, the parties
 11

failed to cite or discuss the effect of our statements, in other
contexts, that the Library of Congress is not part of the executive
branch. See, e.g., Wash. Legal Found. v. U.S. Sentencing
Comm’n, 17 F.3d 1446, 1449 (D.C. Cir. 1994) (noting that the
Library “is exempt from the APA because its provisions do not
apply to ‘the Congress’—that is, the legislative branch”); Judd
v. Billington, 838 F.2d 103, 105 (D.C. Cir. 1988) (former
Library employee could not bring claim under Rehabilitation
Act because that statute “applies only to employees in the
executive branch”). The absence of the webcasters’ views
compounds the problem. Were we to decide the constitutional
question without thorough, considered briefing from all
interested parties, we would run “the risk of an improvident or
ill-advised opinion on the legal issues tendered,” McBride v.
Merrell Dow & Pharm., Inc., 800 F.2d 1208, 1211 (D.C. Cir.
1986) (refusing to decide issue not raised until reply brief).

Finally, the potential for far-reaching consequences
counsels against resolving the Appointments Clause question on
this record. The Librarian of Congress appoints not only the
Copyright Royalty Judges but also the Register of Copyrights.
See 17 U.S.C. § 701(a). To hold that the Librarian is not the
head of a department within the meaning of the Appointments
Clause would invalidate the Judges’ determinations and call into
question the status of every registered American copyright. We
decline to resolve this “important question[] of far-reaching
significance,” Carducci v. Regan, 714 F.2d 171, 177 (D.C. Cir.
1983), on the basis of hasty, inadequate, and untimely briefing.

B. Commercial Webcasters’ Challenges

1. Competitive Market Requirement

The Judges are required to determine royalty rates that
“most clearly represent the rates and terms that would have been
 12

negotiated in the marketplace between a willing buyer and a
willing seller.” 17 U.S.C. § 114(f)(2)(B). The commercial
webcasters argue that an earlier decision by the Librarian,
“affirmed” by this court, requires the Judges to base rates on a
perfectly competitive market. See Determination of Reasonable
Rates and Terms for the Digital Performance of Sound
Recordings and Ephemeral Recordings (“Webcaster I”), 67
Fed. Reg. 45,240, 45,244-45 (July 8, 2002) (“Because of the
diversity among the buyers and the sellers, the [Copyright
Arbitration Royalty Panel] noted that one would expect ‘a range
of negotiated rates,’ and so interpreted the statutory standard as
‘the rates to which, absent special circumstances, most willing
buyers and willing sellers would agree’ in a competitive
marketplace.”). This claim fails for two reasons. First, the
dictum from the prior decision calling for a competitive
benchmark does not require rates to be based on a perfectly
competitive market. Second, our having “affirmed” Webcaster
I in Beethoven.com lends no additional weight to the commercial
webcasters’ argument. Far from endorsing a competitive (or
perfectly competitive) standard, we specifically refused to
“examine the correctness of the Librarian’s decision” regarding
competitiveness. Beethoven.com, 394 F.3d at 952 (emphasis
added). Because of the “exceptionally deferential” review
undertaken in that case, our having affirmed the decision of the
Librarian cannot be taken to bind the Judges today. Id. The
statute speaks only of a “willing buyer and a willing seller.”
This is the standard the Judges were to apply in evaluating
whether a market benchmark was an appropriate model on
which to base their own rate determinations.

The statute does not require that the market assumed by the
Judges achieve metaphysical perfection in competitiveness. The
Judges, not this court, bear the initial responsibility for
interpreting the statute. Applying the lessons of Chevron U.S.A.
Inc. v. Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc., 467 U.S. 837
 13

(1984), we can only assess the reasonableness of the Judges’
interpretation of the inherent ambiguity in the statute’s mandate.
Appellants have pointed to nothing in the Judges’ interpretation
to establish unreasonableness.

2. Royalty Rates

The Judges set a per play royalty rate to be paid by
commercial webcasters. This rate will increase, once a year,
from $0.0008 per play in 2006 to $0.0019 per play in 2010. See
Order, 72 Fed. Reg. at 24,096. The rate schedule was based on
the testimony of SoundExchange’s expert economist Michael
Pelcovits, who modeled his estimates on “the market for
interactive webcasting covering the digital performance of
sound recordings.” Id. at 24,092. Interactive
webcasting—which is not within the scope of the statutory
license—allows a listener to access “particular sound
recording[s]” on request or a program of sound recordings
“specifically created for the recipient.” 17 U.S.C. § 114(j)(7).
By contrast, the non-interactive webcasting at issue in this
determination does not allow the same degree of user
customization. Therefore Dr. Pelcovits proposed, and the
Judges adopted, an “interactivity adjustment” by which to
decrease the interactive rates. See Order, 72 Fed. Reg. at
24,092-94. Dr. Pelcovits calculated the adjustment through a
process called hedonic regression, a statistical method that tries
to isolate the value of a particular variable in a complex set of
data. In this case, Dr. Pelcovits tried to isolate the value of
interactive service, which he used to reduce his final estimates.

The commercial webcasters argue that the market for
interactive music services—used by Dr. Pelcovits in his model,
which was generally adopted by the Judges—was insufficiently
competitive. They claim that the market for interactive music
is different than the market for “passive,” non-interactive
 14

webcasting because an interactive music service is not viable
unless it can provide music from each of the four major record
labels. The commercial webcasters argue that subscribers to
interactive webcasting services “expect” access to recordings
from all four major labels “in exchange for [the] significant
monthly payment” that is a condition of their subscription.
Commercial Op. Br. 26. Assuming this asymmetry of consumer
demand, they conclude that the Judges should not have produced
webcasting rates by looking to interactive music rates. To
provide music from each major record label, an interactive
music service must reach agreement with each major record
label independently. According to the commercial webcasters,
this competitive dynamic gives record labels disproportionate
bargaining power. Any one record label could block an entire
service, so each in turn can negotiate higher rates. By looking
to this market, they argue, the Judges provided better terms to
the copyright owners than they would have earned in the
marketplace.

Commercial webcasters presented this argument to the
Judges, supported by the testimony of their expert witness,
economist Adam Jaffe. The Judges considered the argument
and found it to be “largely unsubstantiated.” Id. at 24,093.
They further noted that “there was testimony that directly
contradict[ed] any suggested generalization that the repertoires
of all four major[ record labels] are necessary as a prerequisite
prior to undertaking the operation of a consumer music service
in the various digital music service markets.” Id. at 24,093 n.24.
The Judges cited evidence that “Yahoo! was able to operate its
custom radio channels without” one of those record labels “for
two years,” even though the record label accounted for “nearly
one-third of the market in terms of repertoire.” Id. They
summarized their assessment of Dr. Jaffe’s testimony by calling
his “concerns that the benchmark market [wa]s not sufficiently
competitive . . . little more than the theoretical speculations of
 15

an academic offering a quick outline of possible criticisms
without carefully considering the applicable facts or alternative
explanations.” Id. at 24,093. The Judges assessed Dr. Jaffe’s
testimony and pointed to contrary evidence in the record.
Having evaluated the arguments on both sides, we hold that it
was not unreasonable for the Judges to base their webcasting
rates in part on the market for interactive music.2

2
Appellants also contend that rejection of the NPR Agreement was
inappropriate because § 114(f)(2)(B) prohibits the Judges from
considering agreements for interactive services. Noncommercials
Reply Br. 4-5; Bonneville Reply Br. 7-8. Section 114(f)(2)(B) invites
the Judges to consider comparable “voluntary license agreements
described in subparagraph (A).” 17 U.S.C. § 114(f)(2)(B).
Subparagraph (A) in turn identifies “public performances of sound
recordings by means of eligible nonsubscription transmission services
and new subscription services specified by subsection (d)(2).” Id.
§ 114(f)(2)(A). Subsection (d)(2) states that “performance[s] of a
sound recording . . . shall be subject to statutory licensing, in
accordance with subsection (f) if [among other things] the
transmission is not part of an interactive service.” Id.
§ 114(d)(2)(A)(I). Therefore, the argument goes, Section
114(f)(2)(B) prohibited consideration of the interactive benchmark
that the Judges ultimately adopted.

This argument comes too late. Appearing for the first time in the
reply briefs to this court, see Students Against Genocide v. Dep’t of
State, 257 F.3d 828, 835 (D.C. Cir. 2001), this argument was not
presented to the Judges by any party involved in this litigation and
may not be presented for the first time on appeal, 37 C.F.R.
§ 351.14(b); see also United Transp. Union v. Surface Transp. Bd.,
114 F.3d 1242, 1244-45 (D.C. Cir. 1997). The Bonneville appellants
(who were dismissed voluntarily from this appeal) maintained that this
argument was presented to the Judges in the DiMA and Member
Companies Joint Proposed Findings of Fact ¶¶ 88, 90, 115 n.23.
However, although the three cited paragraphs referred to the
interactive benchmark and argued that it was “not comparable” to the
 16

The standard of review applicable in ratemaking cases is
highly deferential. See E. Ky. Power Coop., 489 F.3d at 1306.
The deferential standard of review extends to our consideration
of arguments by the commercial webcasters about whether a
voluntary agreement could be considered “comparable” to the
ratesetting the Judges were undertaking. See 17 U.S.C.
§ 114(f)(2)(B). When setting rates and terms, “the Copyright
Royalty Judges may consider the rates and terms for comparable
types of digital audio transmission services and comparable
circumstances under voluntary license agreements.” 17 U.S.C.
§ 114(f)(2)(B) (emphasis added). The commercial webcasters
argue that the Judges committed reversible error by failing to
consider a 2003 voluntary agreement between record companies
and satellite digital audio services. Nothing in the statute
requires the Judges to consider any comparable agreements, let
alone particular agreements. It is generally within the discretion
of the Judges to assess evidence of an agreement’s
comparability and to decide whether to look to its rates and
terms for guidance. We therefore affirm the Judges’ decision
not to consider the 2003 agreement when setting rates for
webcasting.

Apart from the objections to the Judges’ assessment of the
market and voluntary agreements, the commercial webcasters
also dispute the hedonic regression analysis used by Dr.
Pelcovits to reduce the rates. In a later determination, setting

licenses at issue because it covered “rights beyond those granted by
the statutory license,” id. ¶ 90, none suggested that the Act bars the
Judges from considering the interactive benchmarks as a matter of
law, much less for the complex statutory construction arguments
outlined in the reply briefs to this court. The paragraphs instead stated
that the interactive benchmark was irrelevant because it was too
dissimilar from the statutory license at issue, not because the statute
precluded the Judges from considering it at all.
 17

rates and terms for satellite radio subscription services, the
Judges credited a study with an interactivity adjustment much
greater than the interactivity adjustment Dr. Pelcovits used in
this determination. See Determination of Rates and Terms for
Preexisting Subscription Services and Satellite Digital Audio
Radio Services (“SDARS”), 73 Fed. Reg. 4080 (Jan. 24, 2008).
If the Judges had used the SDARS adjustment, the final rates
would have been two-thirds smaller. Commercial webcasters
contend that this was arbitrary. This argument fails for two
reasons. First and most obviously, the Judges are not bound by
future agency action. The suggestion defies logic. The Judges
must “act . . . on the basis of a written record [and] prior
determinations and interpretations of . . . the Copyright Royalty
Judges.” 17 U.S.C. § 803(a)(1). They are not required to act on
the basis of future determinations of the Copyright Royalty
Judges. Failure to conform with subsequent agency action
cannot be a basis for a finding of arbitrariness. See Tesoro Ref.
& Mktg. Co. v. FERC, 552 F.3d 868, 873-74 (D.C. Cir. 2009)
(rejecting futility argument based on subsequent agency action).
Second, even if the Judges were so bound, their determination
in SDARS specifically criticized the interactivity adjustment,
saying it “might well be improved through a hedonic regression
analysis.” See 73 Fed. Reg. at 4093. The Judges’ “failure” to
use a similarly inexact adjustment for webcasting was not
arbitrary or otherwise contrary to law.

Finally, the commercial webcasters argue for setting aside
the Judges’ proposed rates because they are “crushing and
disproportionate.” Commercial Op. Br. 38. The APA permits
us to set aside agency action that is “arbitrary, capricious, an
abuse of discretion, or otherwise not in accordance with law.”
5 U.S.C. § 706(2)(A). This they have not shown.
 18

3. Percentage-of-Revenue Rates

The Judges adopted a per-performance usage fee structure
for all commercial webcasters. Small commercial webcasters
object to this uniform solution, seeking instead to pay a
percentage of their revenues. The Judges rejected such an
argument because they found “no evidence in the record about
how [to] delineate between small webcasters and large
webcasters” and noted that “none of the small commercial
webcasters . . . provided helpful evidence about what demarcates
a ‘small’ commercial webcaster from other webcasters at any
given point in time.” Order, 72 Fed. Reg. at 24,089 & n.9. The
small commercial webcasters now argue that the definition of
“small commercial webcaster” is irrelevant because the
percentage-of-revenue approach would apply only to those
webcasters that elected to pay a percentage of total gross
revenue. The Board and SoundExchange say that this revised
argument, which they claim was first raised at rehearing, is
waived. See 37 C.F.R. § 351.14(b) (“A party waives any
objection to a provision in the determination unless the
provision conflicts with a proposed finding of fact or conclusion
of law filed by the party.”). We assume without deciding that
the small commercial webcasters’ initial proposal, combined
with the references to “gross revenue” they made during the
proceedings, are sufficient to avoid waiver.

Regardless, their objection fails on the merits. The Judges’
determination spelled out five reasons they favored payments
based on performances rather than webcaster revenue:
(1) performances are more “directly tied to the nature of the
right being licensed”; (2) it is difficult to calculate revenue; (3) it
is difficult to define revenue unambiguously; (4) “auditing and
enforcement” would be more difficult; and (5) payments might
not increase with increased usage of copyrights. Id. at 24,089-
90.
 19

An opt-in regime charging a fraction of total gross revenue
would address only two of the Judges’ five concerns. It might
remove some of the difficulty in calculating and defining
revenue, because total gross revenue includes all money
received by a webcaster. But it would not address the other
problems raised by the Judges: that total gross revenue is not
directly tied to the right being licensed; that auditing and
enforcement would be difficult; and that usage might increase
without a corresponding increase in royalty payments. In an
attempt to address these problems, the small commercial
webcasters point to the Judges’ subsequent adoption of a
“percentage-of-revenue royalty in the SDARS [(i.e., satellite
radio)] proceeding.” Commercial Op. Br. 47. Because the
Judges adopted it for satellite radio, they argue, the Judges
should have adopted it for webcasting. Beyond the ordinary
problem of trying to hold an agency to action it takes in a
subsequent proceeding, see supra Part II.B.2, the Judges were
explicitly reluctant to adopt that approach in the satellite radio
proceeding:

Because we have no true per performance fee proposal
before us nor sufficient information from evidence of
record to accurately transform any of the parties’
proposals into a true per performance fee proposal, the
Copyright Royalty Judges conclude that a revenue-based
fee structure for the SDARS is the most appropriate fee
structure applicable to these licensees.

SDARS, 73 Fed. Reg. at 4085. The Judges therefore appear
committed to applying per-performance royalties for
commercial services, and deviated from that preference for
satellite-radio licensing only because the parties presented them
with no better options.
 20

Finally, it was not error for the Judges to reject the small
commercial webcasters’ pleas that paying per performance
would wreck their inefficient business models. The Judges
made clear they could not “guarantee a profitable business to
every market entrant.” Order, 72 Fed. Reg. at 24,088 n.8. The
Judges are not required to preserve the business of every
participant in a market. They are required to set rates and terms
that “most clearly represent the rates and terms that would have
been negotiated in the marketplace between a willing buyer and
a willing seller.” 17 U.S.C. § 114(f)(2)(B). If small commercial
webcasters cannot pay the same rate as other willing buyers and
still earn a profit, then the Judges are not required to
accommodate them.

4. Minimum Annual Fee

In addition to setting royalty rates—to be paid by
webcasters to the owners of sound recording copyrights—the
statute requires there to be “a minimum fee for each . . . type of
service” provided. 17 U.S.C. § 114(f)(2)(B). These fees are
paid by licensees, like the webcasters, to the collective, to cover
“administrative costs of the copyright owners in administering
the license.” Webcaster I, 67 Fed. Reg. at 45,262. The Judges
found “reasonable” “a minimum fee of an annual non-
refundable, but recoupable $500 minimum per channel or station
payable in advance.” Order, 72 Fed. Reg. at 24,097.

Commercial webcasters object to the “per channel or
station” phraseology for its failure to set a cap on the number of
minimum fees a licensee could be required to pay. In particular,
they fear that some of their business models might be deemed to
contain thousands or tens of thousands of “channels,” making
the combined fees prohibitively expensive. Anticipating such an
interpretation, DiMA and SoundExchange agreed to cap
minimum fees at $50,000 per year per licensee in 2007.
 21

(Voluntary negotiation by affected parties is “given effect in lieu
of any . . . determination by” the Judges. 17 U.S.C. § 114(f)(3).)
Because some parties have not contracted around this provision,
the issue is not moot and we have power to reach it.

The Board argues that the commercial webcasters waived
their right to make any objection to the minimum fees because
they did not raise it before the Judges. See 37 C.F.R.
§ 351.14(b). But even if the commercial webcasters failed to
specifically object to the omission of a fee cap, they objected to
SoundExchange’s proposal, which included no fee cap. See
DiMA and Radio Broadcasters Proposed Findings of Fact and
Conclusions of Law ¶¶ 257-258. They also endorsed a 2003
agreement between SoundExchange and DiMA that contained
a fee cap (the “2003 Voluntary Agreement”). See DiMA,
America Online, Inc., and Yahoo!, Inc. Proposed Findings of
Fact and Conclusions of Law ¶¶ 35-38. These proposals
“conflict[]” with the Judges’ determination, which lacks any
provision relating to a cap on the number of minimum fees that
any licensee may be required to pay. 37 C.F.R. § 351.14(b).
Therefore, the arguments were not waived.

On the merits, commercial webcasters raise several
objections. They argue the determination was an arbitrary
departure from Webcaster I, which contained a flat minimum fee
of $500 per licensee, without any possibility of raising it for
additional channels or stations. 67 Fed. Reg. at 45,262. They
also argue it was arbitrary for the Judges to fail to limit the
number of minimum fees that might be paid by a single licensee,
when they relied in part on the 2003 Voluntary Agreement,
which had such a limit. That agreement charged licensees “a
minimum fee of $2,500, or $500 per channel or station . . . ,
whichever is less,” per year. 37 C.F.R. § 262.3(d)(2). Finally,
they argue that without a cap, the accumulation of minimum
fees could become excessively burdensome.
 22

The Judges are free to depart from precedent if they provide
reasoned explanations for their departures, and they discussed
minimum fees in their determination. See Order, 72 Fed. Reg.
at 24,096-97. But in only two footnotes do they appear aware of
the possibility of individual licensees paying more than $500.
See id. at 24,097 nn.38-39. Even in the Judges’ discussion of
“side channels”—which included an example of one licensee
being charged $1000, id. at 24,097 n.39—they do not seem to
anticipate the possibility of a webcaster paying hundreds of
thousands of dollars or more. The 2003 Voluntary Agreement
the Judges quoted, see id. at 24,097 n.38, capped minimum fees
at $2500 per licensee. Depending on future interpretations of
“channel or station,” the Judges’ determination might impose
enormous fees on some business models and tiny fees on others,
based on regulations that have not yet been defined. Such a
regime is arbitrary and does not appear to represent what “would
have been negotiated in the marketplace between a willing buyer
and a willing seller.” See 17 U.S.C. § 114(f)(2)(B).

Therefore we vacate the minimum fee provision for
commercial webcasters, and remand for the Judges to reconsider
this portion of their determination.

5. Late Fees

The Judges set a late fee of 1.5% of the royalty payment due
for that period, accruing monthly. See Order, 72 Fed. Reg. at
24,107. The commercial webcasters object, arguing that the
Judges should have considered “course of dealing” evidence
showing that “in practice, rates of such magnitude are very
rarely, if ever, imposed.” Commercial Op. Br. 41. The Judges
did, however, consider course of dealing evidence. See Order,
72 Fed. Reg. at 24,107. They considered it and were “not
persuaded that contracting parties’ ability to waive late fees
require[d] rejection of a higher late fee.” Id. They noted that
 23

some contracts lacked discretion to grant waiver and observed
that “[w]hile waiving a late fee can promote good feelings in a
private agreement . . . , it has no bearing for a statutory license
where copyright owners and performers cannot . . . terminate
access to their works under the license.” Id. Therefore we
affirm the Judges’ determination with respect to late fees.

6. Confidential Information

Webcaster I, 67 Fed. Reg. at 45,275, codified at 37 C.F.R.
§ 261, entitled copyright owners to view certain confidential
information of the webcasters, but only as part of their
“statements of account . . . in aggregated form.” 37 C.F.R.
§ 261.5(c). The collective, which held the information, was
prohibited from using it for “any purpose other than royalty
collection and distribution and activities directly related
thereto.” Id. In the determination under review, the Judges
chose to expand access to non-aggregated statements of account,
though “limit[ing]” this right “to copyright owners and
performers, and their agents and representatives.” Order, 72
Fed. Reg. at 24,109.

The commercial webcasters object to this change, saying
the information is sensitive and pointing to several marketplace
agreements with confidentiality agreements similar to the prior
regime. The Judges reasonably rejected these arguments. As
they made clear in their determination, there was “no finding
that [disclosure of] the types of information contained in the
statements of account . . . would harm the business interests of
the reporting Services.” Id. at 24,108. The commercial
webcasters’ witness “did not articulate how the information
contained in the statements . . . could injure the competitiveness
of a Service, or otherwise negatively affect its operation.” Id.
The Judges also found that the existing confidentiality
arrangement negatively “impact[ed]” the copyright owners’
 24

“substantive rights under the section 112 and 114 licenses.” Id.
Because we ask only whether the Judges acted reasonably based
on record evidence, we are easily satisfied that the Judges met
their burden on this point.

C. Noncommercial Broadcasters’ Challenges

The Judges set an annual noncommercial rate of $500 per
channel or station up to a monthly cap of 159,140 ATH.
Beyond this cap, the Judges ordered noncommercial
broadcasters (“noncommercials”) to pay the usage rate
applicable to the commercial webcasters. The Judges refused to
modify an interim order establishing record-keeping
requirements for all services, instead deferring a decision on this
issue to a future rulemaking.

Noncommercials contend this rate and cap constituted
reversible error because noncommercial broadcasting constitutes
a different type of service than commercial webcasting and the
Act required the Judges to treat different types of services
differently, see 17 U.S.C. § 114(f)(2)(B). Specifically,
noncommercials contend that the Judges arbitrarily: (1) rejected
a flat fee non-interactive non-subscription benchmark for
noncommercials in favor of a commercial interactive
subscription benchmark; (2) adopted an annual $500 per channel
or station minimum fee as necessary to cover SoundExchange’s
administrative costs; (3) adopted a use-based fee above a
listenership threshold, contrary to their mandate and without
evidentiary support; and (4) set the noncommercial usage fee
equal to the commercial usage fee without evidentiary support.
Noncommercials also contend the Judges erred in refusing to
adopt new record-keeping requirements. Although the Judges’
adoption of the $500 fee was unsupported by record evidence,
and we remand that issue, we conclude noncommercials’ other
contentions are unpersuasive.
 25

1. Rejection of Noncommercials’ Proposed Benchmarks

In determining the noncommercial rates, the Judges
rejected, as benchmarks, two proposals offered by
noncommercials: (1) rates loosely based on an NPR-
SoundExchange Agreement covering licenses under Sections
112 and 114 of the Copyright Act for the term October 28, 1998
to December 31, 2004 (“NPR Agreement”) and (2) rates for
musical works paid by noncommercial radio stations for over-
the-air musical work performances under Section 118 of the Act.
At the outset, we note that the Judges did not, as
noncommercials contend, adopt SoundExchange’s commercial
interactive subscription benchmark for noncommercial
broadcasting. The Judges in fact rejected the proposed
benchmarks of both noncommercials and SoundExchange.
Order, 72 Fed. Reg. at 24,099. Although the Judges derived
rates above a listenership threshold from the rates applicable to
commercial webcasters, the Judges offered noncommercials a
huge discount over these rates in the form of a monthly 159,140
ATH allowance that would be covered by a minimum fee.

a. Rejection of the NPR Agreement as a Benchmark

Executed in 2001, the NPR Agreement provided that NPR
would pay SoundExchange a flat-fee lump sum for licenses over
a six-year period but did not specify the parties’ valuations of
any given year of the contract. At the time the agreement was
executed, NPR had 410 stations providing streaming content.
By the end of the NPR agreement period, NPR had 798 such
stations. The agreement was silent as to how stations beyond
the original 410 were to be handled.

The Judges rejected the NPR Agreement as a benchmark,
finding that it “[did] not provide clear evidence of a per station
rate that could be viewed as a proxy for one that a willing buyer
 26

and a willing seller would negotiate today.” Order, 72 Fed. Reg.
at 24,098. The Judges gave four reasons. First, the agreement
provided for a “lump sum amount to cover the entire 74-month
term of the contract with no amount specified for different
years.” Id. The Judges noted that there was nothing in the
agreement or the record to indicate “the proper attribution of
payments for any given year.” The Judges declined
noncommercials’ invitation to arrive at this annual per station
rate by simply dividing the lump sum amount by the number of
years and number of stations covered, because such a proposal
accounted for neither the “time value of money in the latter
years of the [agreement]” nor “the erosion in the purchasing
power of the dollar since 2004.” Id. at 24,098-99. Second, the
proposal sought to divide the average yearly rate by 798 stations
(the number of NPR stations covered by the agreement in 2004),
but the Judges noted that the agreement covered only 410
stations when it was executed and that neither the contract nor
the record indicated “how additional stations beyond the 410
covered by the agreement were to be handled.” Id. at 24,098.
Depending on which figure was used, the two possible fees
would have been approximately one-half or double the amount
of the other. Id. Third, the Judges took issue with the fact that
nothing in the agreement or the record “indicate[d] the parties’
expectations as to levels of streaming.” Id. Fourth, the Judges
stated that “none of the final rate proposals of the
Noncommercial Webcasters would cover the minimum annual
fee determined for Commercial Webcasters.” Id. at 24,099.

In maintaining that this determination was arbitrary,
noncommercials object not simply to the Judges’ rejection of the
agreement as evidence of the appropriate rate, but to their failure
to adopt the agreement as the appropriate benchmark. See, e.g.,
Noncommercials Op. Br. 20. Congress invited the Judges to
consider voluntary marketplace agreements for comparable
types of digital audio transmission services and comparable
 27

circumstances. 17 U.S.C. § 114(f)(2)(B). Noncommercials
contend that the NPR agreement was exactly the type of
agreement suggested by Congress, as it covered (1) “the same
rights at issue here,” (2) “the same activity: noninteractive
Internet simulcast streaming of radio broadcasts,” (3) “the same
seller: SoundExchange and its members,” and (4) “the same
buyer: NPR, one of the noncommercial broadcasters who
brought this appeal.” Noncommercials Op. Br. 17-18. For the
reasons that follow, however, the Judges’ decision to reject the
agreement as a benchmark was not arbitrary.

First, the Judges noted that the number of NPR stations
covered by the agreement seemed to have nearly doubled over
the course of the agreement, making it unclear which figure it
ought to use in calculating a benchmark. Second, given the
Judges’ dual concerns that flat fee structures “permit increasing
usage without increasing payment,” Order, 72 Fed. Reg. at
24,091, and that this benchmark was proposed to cover all
noncommercials, “irrespective of whether they were part of a
submarket in the marketplace for non-interactive webcasting
that was distinctly different from commercial non-interactive
webcasting,” id. at 24,098, the Judges could reasonably
conclude the agreement’s silence as to “the parties’ expectations
as to levels of streaming,” id., was relevant to their decision to
reject the agreement as a benchmark. Finally, the Judges’
statement that the agreement did not serve as a “proxy for one
that a willing buyer and a willing seller would negotiate today,”
id., evinces concern with the age of the agreement, especially in
light of their further emphasis that the lump sum payment
covered the period between 1998 and 2004. In addition to the
Judges’ concern that the proposal failed to account for the “time
value of money,” reference to the agreement’s 1998-2004
coverage dates highlights how outmoded the agreement was.
This time period began a little over seven years prior to the
Order’s January 1, 2006 applicability date and just a few months
 28

short of nine years prior to the Order’s May 1, 2007 effective
date. The Judges might have been able to compensate for some
of these mathematical deficiencies in calculating a fee. But
another shortcoming—the lack of evidence that SoundExchange
valued each year of the agreement equally—prevented them
from making those adjustments in a rational way.

Noncommercials point out that the Judges adopted rates for
commercial webcasting that were based on an interactive
commercial subscription benchmark that required mathematical
adjustments to deduct the value added by interactivity even
though the benchmark was concededly “not . . . without any
warts.” Id. at 24,094. Consequently, noncommercials contend
that the Judges’ rejection of the NPR agreement as the
benchmark was arbitrary because “[a]gencies cannot ‘treat[]
type A cases differently from similarly situated type B cases.’”
Noncommercials Reply Br. 9 (quoting Indep. Petroleum Ass’n
v. Babbitt, 92 F.3d 1248, 1260 (D.C. Cir. 1996)). This
contention might have merit if the NPR Agreement and the
interactive subscriptions benchmark suffered from the same
shortcomings. However, the Judges rejected the NPR
Agreement for reasons independent of the mathematical
adjustments it required. Nevertheless, even if the required
mathematical adjustments were the only shortcomings of the
agreement, the Judges adopted the benchmark for commercial
webcasters based on the testimony of Dr. Michael Pelcovits,
SoundExchange’s expert, regarding the hedonic regression
analysis that he performed to quantify and deduct the value of
interactivity from the interactive commercial subscription
benchmark. By contrast, noncommercials presented no
evidence quantifying SoundExchange’s yearly valuation of the
NPR agreement, the time value of money, or the declining
purchasing power of the dollar. Because the Judges had no duty
to compensate for these shortcomings, the situations were not
“similarly situated” and any purported differences in treatment
 29

were not arbitrary. Moreover, even if the Judges erred in
rejecting the NPR Agreement because the proposed fee would
not cover “the minimum annual fee determined for Commercial
Webcasters,” Order, 72 Fed. Reg. at 24,099, see infra Part
II.C.1.b, this was harmless error in light of the Judges’ other
independent reasons for rejecting the agreement. See PDK
Labs., Inc. v. U.S. Drug Enforcement Admin., 362 F.3d 786, 799
(D.C. Cir. 2004).

b. Rejection of the Musical Works Benchmark

In rejecting the rates paid by noncommericial radio stations
for over-the-air musical works performances under Section 118
of the Copyright Act as a benchmark, the Judges explained that
“the musical works benchmark proposed by [noncommercials]
is based on a very different marketplace characterized by
different sellers who are selling different rights.” Order, 72 Fed.
Reg. at 24,098. Further, the Judges found “ample evidence in
the record . . . to controvert the underlying premise of this
proposed benchmark that the market for sound recordings and
the market for musical works are necessarily equivalent.” Id.;
see SoundExchange Proposed Findings of Fact ¶¶ 486-495
(discussing evidence that in comparable markets musical works
publishers receive lower royalty rates than do owners of sound
recording rights).

Noncommercials do not dispute the Judges’ rationale for
rejecting this benchmark, but instead insist it was arbitrary for
the Judges not to justify rejecting reliance on the fee structure of
these agreements as evidence that a flat-fee structure, regardless
of usage, was appropriate for noncommercials. However,
because the Judges noted that these agreements were so different
from the rights at issue, representing “different sellers who are
selling different rights” of different value, the Judges did not act
arbitrarily by rejecting these agreements even for this limited
 30

purpose. Moreover, the rates set by the Judges did establish a
flat-fee structure for the vast majority of noncommercial
broadcasters then before them. Order, 72 Fed. Reg. at 24,099-
100. The Judges estimated that the monthly 159,140 ATH
allowance would create, effectively, a flat-fee structure covering
approximately 80% of the NPR stations that streamed over the
web. Id. at 24,099-100. While this appeal was pending, NPR
was dismissed voluntarily from the case. Order No. 07-1123
(D.C. Cir. Mar. 18, 2009). Because NPR appears to have
represented the largest of the noncommercial broadcasters, see
Order, 72 Fed. Reg. at 24,099, the allowance may cover all the
broadcasting needs of the remaining noncommercials. For
instance, the National Religious Broadcasters Noncommercial
Music License Committee (“Noncommercial Religious
Broadcaster Committee”) stated that “listenership on
[Committee-represented stations] is typically small. CDR, [a
Committee-represented station], is representative of other
[Committee-represented] stations and averages a concurrent
online audience of just under 14 listeners.” Noncommercial
Religious Broadcasters Committee Proposed Findings of Fact ¶
6. Assuming thirty-one days in a month, this listenership level
would result in 10,416 ATH of streaming content, or only 6.5%
of the monthly ATH allowance.

2. Minimum Annual Fee

The Judges adopted an annual $500 per channel or station
minimum fee on the rationale that “certainly the bare minimum
that such services should have to pay is the administrative cost
of administering the license.” Order, 72 Fed. Reg. at 24,099.
The Judges set $500 as the fee amount based on their previous
conclusion that $500 was the appropriate minimum fee for
commercial webcasters and on the lack of record evidence “to
suggest that the submarket in which a Noncommercial
Webcaster may reside would yield a different administrative
 31

cost to SoundExchange as compared to the administrative costs
associated with Commercial Webcasters.” Id. Furthermore, the
Judges stated that SoundExchange had made no distinction
between webcasters with regards to the $500 fee and relied on
Webcaster I for the notion that all webcasters should pay the
same minimum fee for the same license. Order, 72 Fed. Reg. at
24,099. Because there is no record evidence that $500
represented SoundExchange’s administrative cost per channel
or station, the Judges’ determination in this regard cannot be
sustained.

In discussing the appropriate minimum fee for commercial
webcasters, the Judges observed that they had “little evidence of
the administrative cost per licensee.” Id. They nevertheless set
$500 as the minimum fee for commercial webcasters because
SoundExchange proposed the amount, the amount was
“substantially lower” than the minimum fees proposed by the
various webcasters, id. at 24,096, and “SoundExchange must
[have] anticipate[d] that [$500] [would] cover its administrative
costs even in the absence of royalties,” id. Whatever merit this
approach may have for commercial webcasters, the Judges could
hardly apply it rationally to noncommercial broadcasters, some
of which proposed arrangements with minimum fees well below
$500. See, e.g., Noncommercial Religious Broadcasters
Proposed Findings of Fact ¶ 30. This is especially so given the
lack of evidence supporting SoundExchange’s administrative
costs. The most that can be inferred from SoundExchange’s
proposal is that its annual per channel or station administrative
costs do not exceed $500, not that they equal $500.
Additionally, noncommercials suggest there was record
evidence refuting the level of SoundExchange’s administrative
costs: the NPR Agreement, viewed most favorably to
SoundExchange, averages out to a per-year inflation-adjusted
rate significantly less than $500 and so undercuts the Judges’
view that a $500 minimum fee represented the lower bound of
 32

SoundExchange’s administrative costs. The Judges offered no
reason for rejecting the agreement as evidence of
SoundExchange’s administrative costs.

The Board’s response on appeal misses the mark. It offers
that if there was a lack of evidence of SoundExchange’s
administrative costs, the fault lies with noncommercials, which
did not obtain discovery and introduce evidence to establish that
fact. But this approach is inconsistent with rational
decisionmaking, which requires more than an absence of
contrary evidence; it requires substantial evidence to support a
decision, see Natural Res. Def. Council, Inc. v. Herrington, 768
F.2d 1355, 1421 n.63 (D.C. Cir. 1985). Furthermore, because
SoundExchange did not base its minimum-fee proposal on
administrative costs, noncommercials could hardly challenge a
theory first presented in the Judges’ determination and not
advanced by any participant. In effect, noncommercials cannot
be faulted for failing to present “contrary” evidence of
administrative costs, because no evidence existed yet to counter.

In sum, it was arbitrary for the Judges, in the absence of
record evidence, to apply the $500 fee to noncommercials on the
theory that “the bare minimum” noncommercials should have to
pay is the “administrative cost of administering the license,” and
we remand the issue of the appropriate minimum fee for
noncommercials.

3. Adoption of a Use-Based Fee Above a Listenership
Threshold

Acknowledging that commercial and certain
noncommercial webcasters represent “two different segments of
the marketplace,” the Judges noted that “agreements produced
by the parties in this proceeding covering noncommercial
services typically structured payments as flat fees.” Order, 72
 33

Fed. Reg. at 24,091 (citing the NPR Agreement). The Judges
also noted “the myriad of characteristics that [noncommercials]
claim set them apart from commercial broadcasters,” such as
non-profit status, different noncommercial mission, and
different sources of funding. Id. at 24,098. Nevertheless, the
Judges expressed concern that “flat fees do permit increasing
usage without increasing payment.” Id. Therefore, to account
for these competing considerations, the Judges adopted a flat,
per-station rate structure up to a specified cap coupled with a per
performance rate for usage exceeding the cap. Id. In imposing
the cap, the Judges relied on testimony from SoundExchange’s
economic expert, Dr. Erik Brynjolfsson, that as noncommercial
stations grow, they begin to compete with commercial stations
for listeners. Dr. Brynjolfsson opined that, beyond a certain
size, a cap is necessary in order “to reduce ‘the chance that small
noncommercial stations will cannibalize the webcasting market
more generally’ and thereby adversely affect the value of the
digital performance right in sound recordings.” Id. at 24,097
(quoting Brynjolfsson Written Rebuttal Testimony at 42). The
Judges agreed, concluding as a matter of “pure economic
rationale based on the willing buyer/willing seller standard,” that
the proliferation of a different price for noncommercials “must
include safeguards to assure that, as the submarket for
noncommercial webcasters that can be distinguished from
commercial webcasters evolves, it does not simply converge or
overlap with the submarket for commercial webcasters.” Id. at
24,097-98. The Judges explained that this “convergence” theory
approximates the circumstances “in which willing buyers and
willing sellers would have a meeting of the minds that would
result in a lower rate than the rate applicable to the general
commercial webcasting market.” Id. at 24,100.

Noncommercials contend that the record evidence and the
Judges’ reasoning demonstrate that the only appropriate fee
structure for noncommercials is a flat fee. However, Dr.
 34

Brynjolfsson’s testimony provided evidence against a plain flat-
fee structure beyond a certain listenership threshold, and the
Judges’ decision to adopt a listenership threshold was rationally
based on Dr. Brynjolfsson’s testimony of how the willing
buyer/willing seller calculation would change as a
noncommercial broadcaster grew and competed with a
commercial webcaster for listeners. Also, the Judges did set a
flat fee structure for the vast majority of noncommercials, most
of which were not expected to exceed the specified cap.

Noncommercials also contend that the Judges legally erred
by substituting a theory of convergence for the willing
buyer/willing seller standard. As the Judges stated, however, it
relied on convergence as a proxy for what a willing buyer and
willing seller would negotiate in the marketplace. Id. at 24,100.
To the extent noncommercials suggest that this statement
constituted “lip service” to the statutory standard, as
“competition was the beginning and end of the Board’s inquiry,”
Noncommercials Op. Br. 26 n.8, this criticism is no criticism at
all because competition certainly would affect the actions of a
willing seller, as the Judges noted. Even assuming the Judges
should have “recognized noncommercial services’ unwillingness
to accept a commercial rate in a marketplace transaction,” id. 26,
the Judges did not set a “commercial rate” for the
noncommercials. It set a per-performance rate only above a
listenership threshold. Noncommercials are given a monthly
discount of 159,140 ATH on the commercial rate. Moreover,
that assertion, as do many others made by noncommercials,
speaks only to the willingness of the buyer to enter the
transaction and says nothing of the seller. The Judges, taking
both buyers and sellers into account, came to a reasonable
compromise between the two positions.

Noncommercials further contend the Judges arbitrarily
selected listenership levels as the measure of alleged
 35

convergence. They maintain “[f]ocusing on listenership rather
than the standard Congress set is, by definition, arbitrary”
because “agency action is arbitrary if it ‘relied on factors which
Congress has not intended it to consider.’” Noncommercials
Op. Br. 28 (quoting Motor Vehicle Mfrs. Ass’n v. State Farm
Mut. Auto Ins. Co., 463 U.S. 29, 43 (1983)). As the Judges
could rationally conclude that competition for listeners would be
a major factor affecting convergence, however, it was also
rational for them to conclude that competition could be assessed
by looking to listenership. The Judges did not “rel[y] on factors
which Congress has not intended it to consider,” State Farm,
463 U.S. at 43, for competition is relevant to the willing
buyer/willing seller standard. Still, noncommercials maintain
that the arbitrariness of setting 159,140 ATH as the convergence
point underscores the arbitrariness of using listenership to assess
convergence. Even assuming the Judges’ decision to set the
convergence point at 159,140 ATH was arbitrary, it would not
undermine their approach of using listenership to assess
convergence: miscalculating a convergence point does not
undermine the validity of a convergence approach any more
than an economics student who miscalculates the equilibrium
point on a demand curve undermines the notion that such a point
exists.

Finally, noncommercials contend the evidence upon which
the Judges relied to support convergence does not demonstrate
convergence. While noncommercials make several challenges
on this score, their “most fundamental[]” objection is that this
evidence “related to a few of the largest NPR stations.”
Noncommercials Op. Br. 29. The Judges explained, however,
that the “evidence of convergence in the record appears to apply
more clearly to the stations at the larger end of the range of NPR
station size,” Order, 72 Fed. Reg. at 24,099. Under these
circumstances, the Judges reasonably looked to evidence of the
largest NPR stations for evidence of convergence. Although
 36

noncommercials protest that the Judges cited very little non-
NPR evidence in support of convergence, the Judges need not
have cited any non-NPR evidence to reach a rational result;
basing their determination on NPR evidence from large NPR
stations made logical sense because “without evidence relating
to the largest NPR stations, there would be very little evidence
of convergence at all,” Noncommercials Op. Br. 29. In other
words, this evidence constituted the most, if not only, relevant
evidence. To show this determination was arbitrary,
noncommercials had to demonstrate that the Judges
misconstrued the evidence of convergence or else failed to
consider important evidence that undermined their
understanding of the convergent effect. The most
noncommercials did, however, was to assert that the NPR
Agreement undermined the theory of convergence because the
agreement made no distinctions based on listenership. As noted,
however, the Judges rejected the NPR Agreement’s flat-fee
structure in favor of a structure that prohibited, beyond a
threshold, increasing usage without increasing payment. Also,
the ATH threshold imposed as a result of the adopted
convergence theory would appear to apply only to large NPR
stations, lending further support to the Judges’ use of and
reliance on evidence from the larger NPR stations.
Noncommercials thus fail to show the Judges’ determination in
this regard was arbitrary.

4. Adoption of a Noncommercial Usage Rate Above a
Listenership Threshold Equal to the Commercial Rate

Noncommercials contend that setting the noncommercial
usage fee equal to the commercial usage rate was arbitrary,
capricious, and without record support. But the rate structures
are not equal. While the prevailing rates for noncommercials
that exceed a listenership threshold are equal to those of
commercial webcasters, noncommercials’ contention attempts
 37

to obfuscate the fact that they are given a 159,140 ATH discount
over the prevailing commercial rate. Because noncommercials
have made no objection that such an allowance is trivial, this
contention is unpersuasive. To the extent that noncommercials’
position is that the commercial rate itself is arbitrary, it lacks
merit. See supra Part II.B.2.

5. Record-Keeping Requirements

Although the parties introduced evidence as to record-
keeping requirements, the Judges deferred a determination to a
later rulemaking and left in place an interim rule. Order, 72
Fed. Reg. at 24,109-10. Although noncommercials challenge
this action as arbitrary and capricious, as they recognize, the
Judges have control of their docket. See 17 U.S.C. § 803(c)(3).
In declining to resolve the question in the current proceeding,
the Judges observed that the evidence presented “was vague and
unsubstantiated and went little beyond the assertion that there
are some costs associated with recordkeeping.” Order, 72 Fed.
Reg. at 24,109. The Judges noted there “would be ample
opportunity to again address the Services’ costs in a future
rulemaking. The ability to influence and adjust the costs of
recordkeeping is far more direct in that context than this rate
determination proceeding and is more properly handled there.”
Id. at 24,110. The Judges have statutory discretion to make this
determination and administrative discretion to control their own
docket. See Telecomms. Resellers Ass’n v. FCC, 141 F.3d 1193,
1196 (D.C. Cir. 1998) (citing GTE Serv. Corp. v. FCC, 782 F.2d
263, 273-74 (D.C. Cir. 1986)). Their exercise of this discretion
here was not arbitrary.

D. Royalty Logic’s Challenges

Finally, we address Royalty Logic’s challenges to the
substance of the Judges’ determination.
 38

1. Designation of a Single Collective

As discussed above, the Judges designated a single
organization—known as the “collective”—to receive royalties
from licensees and distribute payments to copyright owners,
performers, and any agents designated on their behalf to receive
such payments. The Judges selected SoundExchange, rather
than Royalty Logic, to serve this function. Royalty Logic argues
that the Judges’ designation of only one collective was contrary
to the statute.3 We disagree.

Royalty Logic relies principally on 17 U.S.C. § 114(e)(1),
which allows copyright owners and licensees, “in negotiating
statutory licenses,” to “designate common agents on a
nonexclusive basis to negotiate, agree to, pay, or receive
payments.” Royalty Logic contends that the statute confers on
copyright owners or their designated agents the right to receive
royalty payments directly from licensees. It also argues that
Congress’s use of the word “nonexclusive” to describe the
designated agents means that the Judges could not give a single
entity the exclusive ability to receive payments. But this statute
does not speak to the Judges’ authority. By its terms, it simply
exempts copyright owners and licensees from “any provision of
the antitrust laws” to allow them to designate common agents to
negotiate rates and terms under the statutory license that will
apply in lieu of the Judges’ decision. Id. Moreover, the statute
merely authorizes copyright owners to designate agents to
“receive” royalty payments; it does not mandate that those

3
In its reply brief, Royalty Logic argues that even if a single
collective is permissible, the Judges erred by selecting
SoundExchange to fill that role. Again, Royalty Logic has forfeited
this argument by failing to raise it in its opening brief. See Sw.
Airlines, 554 F.3d at 1072.
 39

payments come directly from licensees rather than an
intermediary collective. Id.

Royalty Logic also argues that, by giving the Judges the
authority to set “terms of royalty payments,” id. § 114(f)(2)(A),
Congress meant them to determine only how and when
payments are made. But other provisions of the statutory
licensing scheme make clear that Congress contemplated a role
for the Judges in deciding who would actually receive royalty
payments. For example, in providing for the continuity of
royalty rates and terms while a motion for reconsideration is
pending before the Judges, the statute requires “the entity
designated by the Copyright Royalty Judges to which such
royalties are paid” to return any excess payments once the
motion is resolved. Id. § 803(c)(2)(E)(iii). Likewise, payments
to “the entity designated by the Copyright Royalty Judges” must
continue during the pendency of an appeal to this court, and that
entity must return excess payments following the conclusion of
the appeal. Id. § 803(d)(2)(C)(ii). Both provisions presuppose
that, in setting the rates and terms of the statutory license, the
Judges will “designate” a single “entity” to receive royalty
payments. Following the “fundamental canon of statutory
construction that the words of a statute must be read in their
context and with a view to their place in the overall statutory
scheme,” Davis v. Mich. Dep’t of Treasury, 489 U.S. 803, 809
(1989), we cannot accept Royalty Logic’s unduly narrow
reading of the word “terms” in Section 114(f)(2)(A).

Thus, in selecting SoundExchange as the sole collective, the
Judges fulfilled Congress’s expectation that they would
designate a single entity to receive royalty payments from
licensees. And contrary to Royalty Logic’s argument, the
Judges have not deprived copyright owners of the right to select
their own receiving agents. Any copyright owner is free to
negotiate, on its own or through an agent, for a method of
 40

payment that bypasses SoundExchange. But in the absence of
a privately negotiated agreement, the Judges may designate a
single entity to receive, process, and distribute royalty payments
under the statutory license.

2. Account Statements

Royalty Logic also challenges the Judges’ decision—made
in a separate proceeding—to limit it to inspecting licensees’
account statements at SoundExchange’s offices rather than
receiving the statements directly. See Notice and Recordkeeping
for Use of Sound Recordings Under Statutory License, 71 Fed.
Reg. 59,010, 59,019 (Oct. 6, 2006). That decision is not within
the scope of this appeal, and we have no authority to review it.
Royalty Logic could have asked the Judges to reconsider the
record-keeping rules during the proceeding on review. See 17
U.S.C. § 803(c)(3) (Judges, as part of any determination, “may
specify notice and recordkeeping requirements . . . that apply in
lieu of those that would otherwise apply”). But Royalty Logic
did not raise the record-keeping issue in this proceeding and
may not challenge it as part of this appeal.

III. Conclusion

For the reasons given above we vacate the $500 minimum
fee as arbitrary, capricious, and not supported by record
evidence, and remand that portion of the determination to the
Copyright Royalty Judges for further proceedings not
inconsistent with this opinion. All other portions of the
determination are affirmed.
So ordered.