The Royalty Trap: How SoundExchange Hunted an Indie Station for Daring to Play Music It Bought
- BossDawg™
- Jun 12
- 3 min read
They call it royalty. We call it robbery. Here’s how the system works—and why it was never meant for us.
Boss Global Radio™ was built on purpose, not profit. We don’t run ads. We don’t chase sponsors. We don’t rake in streaming revenue. What we do is buy the music, spin the records, and uplift the artists we believe in. We exist to amplify sound—not commodify it.
So how did a non-commercial, independent internet station with no monetization and a $100 t-shirt sale all year end up being pressured by one of the biggest royalty enforcement arms in U.S. broadcasting?
Simple: visibility.
We showed up. We went legit. We built a platform that mattered.
And that made us a target.
🔹 The Double Standard That No One Talks About
FM radio pays nothing to SoundExchange. Not a cent for the actual sound recordings they play. iHeart, Cumulus, and every big terrestrial broadcaster can spin the same hit tracks hundreds of times a day—free and clear. The only fees they owe are for publishing rights (ASCAP, BMI, SESAC).
But internet radio? Entirely different story.
Platforms like Boss Global Radio™ are expected to:
Pay SoundExchange fees
Submit monthly reports of use
Track listener hours
Comply with a licensing system built for corporate streamers—not grassroots community stations
We don’t get the benefit of scale. We don’t get flexible terms. We don’t get breaks.
We get bills.
And the irony? We promote the same music they claim to be protecting.
🏛️ The Timeline: How It All Went Down
October 31, 2024: We receive an unsolicited email from SoundExchange warning us of a "potential copyright violation" and requesting an intake form.
November 11, 2024: We respond transparently. We explain that our original statutory license under 973TheBoss had issues being processed due to a check fee error. We clarify that we attempted to resubmit the proper amount.
November 12, 2024: SoundExchange replies, requesting all reports, payments, and listener hour documentation from 2022 through 2025. They note someone had logged into the account.
That same day, we acknowledge the update and express our intent to correct the record.
No contract is signed. No fees are paid. No certified mail is received.
For the next several months, we receive repeated email reminders requesting thousands of dollars in retroactive minimum fees—despite having no income and running a non-commercial station.
This isn’t royalty management. This is pressure by inbox.
🌈 The Bigger Picture: Legislation They Don’t Want You to Read
Here's the brutal truth: small digital stations like ours are being taxed out of existence, while FM giants spin the same music for free under outdated exemptions.
On January 31, 2025, Congress reintroduced the American Music Fairness Act (AMFA)—a bipartisan bill designed to finally end the free ride for FM broadcasters and make them pay the same performance royalties currently expected from digital platforms.
It’s backed by artists. Supported by SAG-AFTRA. Even endorsed by SoundExchange itself. Its purpose? To require traditional AM/FM stations to contribute fairly—just like internet stations have been doing for years.
But while lawmakers debate the ethics of fairness… SoundExchange hasn’t waited.
They’ve continued chasing indie broadcasters like us with:
Monthly report demands
Retroactive fee threats
And endless inbox pressure—without ever sending formal legal notice
So let’s ask the real question:
If Congress is trying to fix this…Why is SoundExchange still bleeding us while the FM giants get a pass?
Not Spotify. Not Apple. Not iHeart.
Us.
💸 Sidebar: SoundExchange Hits $12 Billion—But At What Cost?
In February 2025, SoundExchange announced it had surpassed $12 billion in cumulative artist payouts since 2003. Just last year alone, they distributed over $1 billion, partnering with nearly 60 countries and 700,000 creators worldwide.
Impressive? Sure.
But here's the contradiction: While they celebrate billion-dollar benchmarks and global reach, small indie stations like ours get chased down for a few thousand bucks—even with no ads, no sponsors, and no income.
If you can move $12 billion, why are you still squeezing the broke broadcasters trying to do it right?
🎧 The Choice We Made
We never refused to support artists. We are artists. We support artists.
But we had to make a decision:
Keep paying into a royalty system designed to crush us, or build a future rooted in direct artist relationships, waived content, and royalty-free media?
We chose survival. We chose independence. We chose transparency.
If that makes us inconvenient?
Good.
This platform was never built to follow the rules of a rigged game. It was built to change them.
At the end of the day, if they want independent internet stations to pay thousands a year, then corporate mainstream FM stations should be paying their fair share too.
Comentarios