Dutch radio station removes podcasts due to conflict with Buma/Stemra

Last Wednesday, the popular Dutch radio station Radio 538 announced to remove their podcasts, due to a notification from the Dutch collecting society Buma/Stemra. Buma/Stemra decided to raise the royalty fee with respect to podcasts because of their increased popularity.

Buma/Stemra represents the interests and rights of composers, lyricists and music publishers in the Netherlands. Radio 538 is one of the largest providers of podcasts in the Netherlands. The station pays a standard fee per year for the use of music in these podcasts. Now, the fee will be a hundred times higher backdating from January 2011. Therefore, the station has decided to remove all its podcasts from its website.  

Buma/Stemra said the old rates were outdated and the podcast has become a popular alternative for buying music: “People do not buy music, they download a podcast”. Moreover, according to Buma/Stemra, Radio 538 knew that a fee change was expected.

Read more about Buma/Stemra on FutureofCopyright.com

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Reference: Nu.nl and Volkskrant