This January 2026 edition covers what changed in December 2025.
December did not produce many final outcomes. It produced numbers and deadlines: the new physical mechanical rate, two screen-music awards calendars, interim webcasting rules, a statutory date for the UK’s AI work, and the opening of the next US mechanical rate proceeding.
What changed
Every physical copy and download now carries a higher songwriter cost
On December 1, the Copyright Royalty Judges published the 2026 cost-of-living adjustment for physical phonorecords and permanent downloads: 13.1 cents per work, or 2.52 cents per minute or fraction of a minute, whichever is larger (Federal Register). The rate applies from January 1 through December 31, 2026 and follows a published CPI-U formula rather than a private negotiation.
What it means if you are trying to get placed. Put the new figure into every soundtrack, vinyl, permanent-download, and cue-compilation calculation you make this year. If a deal still uses 12.7 cents, it is using the prior rate. The per-minute alternative deserves special attention in sync-adjacent releases because long ambient pieces, score suites, and extended cues can exceed the flat per-work amount; “or fraction thereof” also means a cue just over a whole minute is calculated at the next minute. Keep exact runtimes in your metadata and model them before committing to a pressing quantity. In contracts, reference the statutory rate as adjusted under the regulation instead of hard-coding 13.1 cents into a multi-year deal. That keeps the clause usable after the next annual adjustment and makes any controlled-composition discount visible. Keep the boundaries clear: this rule covers US physical phonorecords and permanent downloads. It is not a sync fee and does not set interactive-streaming mechanicals. If a placement leads to an international soundtrack release, identify a separate non-US collection route rather than assuming a US publishing administrator covers it.
Want an Oscar-eligible song? The shortlist shows how narrow the door really is
On December 16, the Academy advanced 15 of 65 eligible songs and 20 of 132 eligible scores for the 98th Oscars, with members of the Music Branch voting in both categories (Academy press release). The Academy calendar shows that Original Song submissions had closed October 15 and Original Score submissions November 3, with nominations voting scheduled for January 12–16 (Academy key dates).
What it means if you are trying to get placed. Work backward from the submission deadline, not from nominations morning or the ceremony. If you are writing an original song for a film expected to enter the next cycle, ask the production who is responsible for submitting it and when that person needs your final audio, lyrics, and credits. Get the songwriter credit in writing exactly as it should appear, because the production’s submitted record becomes the basis for everything that follows. The December list also gives useful scale: 65 songs competed for 15 shortlist places, while 132 scores competed for 20. That is a defined specialist field, not an open-ended popularity contest, but it remains highly selective. Keep the category distinction honest. Original Song is for a song written for and used in the film; licensing an existing catalogue track can be a valuable sync placement without making it an Original Song contender. The shortlist is not a nomination and names no songwriters or composers on the fetched primary page, so do not fill those credits from memory. Use the list to study work and timing, not to claim an outcome that has not happened.
Your screen score had a January shot at one of songwriting’s biggest awards
The Ivors Academy’s December 17 update opened six categories for its 2026 awards, including Best Original Film Score and Best Television Soundtrack, with entries due at 5 p.m. GMT on January 16 (The Ivors Academy). Eligibility is limited to British, Irish, or UK-resident writers and music released in the UK in 2025, and the two screen categories require music written specifically for the production.
What it means if you are trying to get placed. If you meet the nationality or residency test and scored an eligible 2025 UK film or television production, check the current category rules now. The deadline is just over two weeks away. Do not assume a production company or publisher has entered on your behalf; ask, get an answer in writing, and submit yourself if the rules allow and nobody else is handling it. Assemble the same facts a clearance team would need: composer credit as it appears on screen, commissioning entity, UK publisher string, release or broadcast date, territory, and confirmation that the music was written for that production. If that file takes days to reconstruct, fix the underlying record even if you decide not to enter. For most US-based readers, the residency rule means there is no action beyond calendar intelligence. It is still useful to see the market’s dividing line: these categories recognize commissioned original music, not a pre-existing track licensed into picture. Awards and sync can overlap, but they are not interchangeable routes. The practical question is whether you wrote for the production and can document the commission.
Internet-radio royalties entered 2026 without a final price
A December 17 SoundExchange memo said the Copyright Royalty Judges had not yet published the 2026–2030 commercial webcasting determination, so commercial webcasters should begin 2026 on the 2025 rates of $0.0025 per nonsubscription performance and $0.0032 per subscription performance (SoundExchange memo). It warned that later rates could require true-up payments, credits, or refunds and set a February 2 minimum-fee deadline for licensees.
What it means if you are trying to get placed. Treat early-2026 statutory master income as provisional. The memo is explicit that the rates are interim and that a later determination may change the accounting, so do not build a cash plan that assumes the first statement is final. The reporting detail is more directly useful to an artist: most commercial webcasters submit census-level Reports of Use identifying performances of each sound recording. That makes one correct ISRC, recording title, featured-artist string, and rights-owner record essential. Audit every delivered version now. A clean, instrumental, cut-down, alternate vocal, or re-record should not borrow an identifier from a different recording. Register the performer and rights-owner sides separately where both apply, and keep them pointed at the same master data. The memo’s 45-day service-reporting rhythm also explains why a January performance cannot appear immediately. None of this changes the negotiated sync fee or the songwriter performance royalty. It governs a separate sound-recording income stream that can follow exposure from a placement, and the best preparation is accurate recording identity before the use occurs.
The UK’s next AI decision could change how your songs are used for training
In December, the UK government published a statutory progress statement committing to lay a copyright-and-AI report and an economic impact assessment before Parliament by March 18, 2026 (UK government statement). The report must consider four consultation options and make proposals on technical controls, training access, developer disclosure, licensing, and enforcement, but the statement chose no option.
What it means if you are trying to get placed. Do not turn a progress statement into a law change. It creates a date and a list of questions, not a new licence or exception. If somebody asks for AI-training rights before the report arrives, keep the grant short, separately priced, track-specific, and terminable, or reserve the right entirely until the policy position is clearer. Avoid a perpetual catalogue-wide permission bundled into an ordinary distribution or sync clause. Build the rights record either way: who controls the composition, who controls the master, which shares each party owns, and who can consent to training or model use. The report is also required to consider developer disclosure, which will only help you if your work can be identified consistently. Keep titles, ISWCs, ISRCs, writer names, performer names, and ownership data aligned. This is a UK process and does not change US law, but the UK is a major production market and its rules can affect counterparties working there. The honest January position is to watch the March report and negotiate cautiously in the meantime.
Songwriters had 30 days to claim a seat in the next mechanical-rate fight
On December 31, the Copyright Royalty Judges opened Phonorecords V, the proceeding that will set Section 115 rates and terms for 2028 through 2032, with Petitions to Participate and a $150 fee due January 30 (Federal Register). The notice says an individual may represent themself without counsel, while scheduling and further procedures will follow after petitions are received.
What it means if you are trying to get placed. Decide first whether you want the obligations of standing, not merely the ability to say you participated. The entry mechanism is real and relatively inexpensive—a petition completed in eCRB with a $150 fee—and the notice expressly allows self-representation. It is still a formal rate proceeding with deadlines and procedural work that the opening notice has not yet set, so anyone considering it should read the requirements and get advice on the burden. Register for eCRB early if filing is even possible; account setup and a hard deadline are a poor last-day combination. If you are not participating, January 30 remains useful because the docket will show which publishers, services, and songwriter organizations entered the room. Those are the parties positioned to argue over rates that will govern 2028–2032. Any catalogue or soundtrack agreement signed now that can run into that period should refer to the applicable statutory rate rather than a fixed current cent figure. This is not legal advice, and the notice does not promise a fee waiver or provide a hearing calendar. It opens the door and tells you the price of entry.
December’s pattern is unusually clear: rates and rights systems move on dates that arrive before the public milestone. Put January 16, January 30, February 2, and March 18 on the calendar, then make sure the registrations and contracts behind those dates are ready to use.