(a) Amount. All Licensees shall pay the following annual minimum fee for each Annual Assessment period:

(1) For Licensees that have a Unique Sound Recordings Count of less than 5,000 during the relevant Annual Calculation Period, the annual minimum fee shall be $5,000.

(2) For Licensees that have a Unique Sound Recordings Count of 5,000 or more during the relevant Annual Calculation Period, the annual minimum fee shall be $60,000.

(b) Annual Calculation Period. The calculation period for annual minimum fees shall be the 12-month period that ends on the September 30th immediately preceding the start of the assessment period (e.g., the annual minimum fee calculation period for the 2021 Annual Assessment shall be October 1, 2019 to September 30, 2020).

(c) Calculation by Licensee certification (2021 and 2022)—

(1) 2021. Each Licensee in operation on or before the license availability date shall submit to the MLC, accompanying its notice of license under Section 115(d)(2)(A) or its notice of nonblanket activity under Section 115(d)(6)(A) and no later than February 15, 2021, its Certified Minimum Fee Disclosure for the 2021 annual minimum fee (i.e., for the period from October 1, 2019 to September 30, 2020). Each Licensee shall submit the appropriate minimum fee (i.e., $5,000 or $60,000) for the 2021 Assessment simultaneously with its Certified Minimum Fee Disclosure.

(2) 2022. Each Licensee shall submit to the MLC by November 1, 2021, a Certified Minimum Fee Disclosure for the 2022 Assessment, and shall pay the appropriate annual minimum fee by January 15, 2022.

(d) Calculation by the MLC (2023 and subsequent years).

(1) Beginning with the 2023 Assessment and continuing in subsequent years, the MLC will calculate each Licensee's annual minimum fee based on usage reporting received from Licensees pursuant to Section 115(d)(4). The MLC shall send invoices for the appropriate annual minimum fee to each Licensee. Licensees shall pay the annual minimum fee invoices from the MLC by the later of:

(i) 30 days from receipt of the invoice from the MLC; or

(ii) January 15th of the respective Annual Assessment year.

(2) Each Licensee in operation during any portion of an annual minimum fee calculation period shall pay the full amount of the respective annual minimum fee.