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RAIN 3/19: Pandora, Blip.fm, BIA/Kelsey, Marketron execs sign on to RAIN Summit roster
·2 days ago CEOs AND TOP SALES EXECS TO APPEAR IN LAS VEGAS FOR RAIN EVENTBlip.fm founder/CEO Jeff Yasuda and BRS Media CEO George Bundy will join us in Las Vegas on April 12 for RAIN Summit West. They join executives from Pandora, BIA/Kelsey, NPR and Marketron, whose CEO Steven Minsini will offer his insights on the “Making It a Real Business” discussion. Yasuda (pictured right) and Bundy will join in the “Building Brands Online / Building Online Brands” panel.
Pandora VP/Audio Sales Doug Sterne will also join us to discuss sales on the “Improving Online Revenues” panel, This group of speakers joins NPR Digital Media SVP/GM Kinsey Wilson, who will keynote the Summit as RAIN reported earlier (here). We’re also happy to announce that Edison Research VP/Strategy and Marketing (and RAIN Summit veteran) Tom Webster will moderate the “Building Brands Online / Building Online Brands” panel. Cox Media Group VP/Digital Gregg Lindahl — also a veteran of our Summits — will join us in Las Vegas to moderate a panel. Finally, VP/Katz Online Tom Perry will join Pandora’s Sterne to discuss “Improving Online Revenues.” We’ll be announcing another round of speakers next week. RAIN Summit West is a co-located event CBS LOOKS TO SUBSCRIPTIONS TO DRIVE LAST.FM TO A PROFITABLE 2010CBS is planning on a profitable 2010 for Last.fm, according to VP Fred McIntyre. “We’re very bullish on the subscription service…the subscription business drives about a quarter of Last.fm’s revenue,” he said. In fact, he claimed the service has “tens of thousands” of paying subscribers and Last.fm will be rolling out new services soon. Music Ally observes (here), “2010 should prove whether CBS really does have the commitment to its streaming music subsidiary to get it back into the limelight.”
NPR SUPPORTS FCC’S BROADBAND PLANNPR has recently come out in support of the FCC’s plan for improving broadband speeds and access across America (RAIN coverage here). NPR’s President and CEO Vivian Schiller said, “Public radio is off and running in pursuit of the ‘robust digital media ecosystem’ the Commission references.
“Our launch of the API, ARGO and applications for mobile devices that ease access to public radio content are reflective of our intentions and ambitions,” she continued. “NPR and its partner stations are eager to work with the Commission, the Congress and others in achieving the expanded public service vision of the National Broadband Plan.” RBR has more on the story here. REPLACEADS LAUNCHES MOBILE PLATFORMInternet radio ad network ReplaceAds has launched a mobile advertising platform. The company states that the platform can deliver video, audio and display ads, along with text messages. For more, read ReplaceAds’ press release here.Full story (and reader comments):  RAIN 3/19: Pandora, Blip.fm, BIA/Kelsey, Marketron execs sign on to RAIN Summit rosterMore RAIN
RAIN 3/18: Radio expert says Net radio's low spot load could pressure broadcasters
·3 days ago ROSS: “12-14 MINUTES OF SPOTS AN HOUR WILL NOT BE TENABLE MUCH LONGER”Radio expert Sean Ross was at the RAIN Summit North last Friday and heard Slacker VP of strategic development Jim Rondenelli declare his service has “not had a month since second quarter of last year when we did not sell out our inventory.” Ross’ reaction was, “Well, he would never be able to fill up 14 minutes an hour” (a typical spotload for broadcast radio). But he reconsiders this stance in his “Ross on Radio” column published Tuesday: “Slacker and Pandora will never have to fill 14 minutes of inventory. And it’s clear now that terrestrial radio is on the verge of its own Drake moment [Bill Drake who brought “more music” to Top 40 radio] where the expectation of an acceptable spotload is forever redefined—particularly as streaming radio continues its march to the dashboard.”
Ross continues, “Commercial FM music broadcasters must come to the realization today that the present 12-14 minutes of spots an hour will not be tenable much longer. And for many listeners they are untenable already…A drastically reduced spotload is going to become the new paradigm. And the only question is whether it’s going to be current commercial operators who offer it.” You can read Ross’ full column here. PANDORA ROYALTY PAYMENTS ACCOUNT FOR 45% OF NON-INTERACTIVE STREAMSPandora recently announced it earned $50 million in 2009, but that nearly $30 million of that revenue was paid in royalty fees (RAIN coverage here). Now Digital Music News reports that Pandora accounts for roughly 44-45% of total SoundExchange royalties for non-interactive streams.
Moreover, Pandora founder Tim Westergren said the service represents “1 percent of the overall radio marketplace [that is, Pandora now accounts for about 1% of radio’s total U.S. listening]…multiply [Pandora’s royalty payments] by 100, and you get the found revenue flowing to labels and artists if we were in an Internet radio world instead of a broadcast world.” Digital Music News has more here. WSJ: SPRINT’S FIRST 4G PHONE TO BE ANDROID-BASED, UNVEILED NEXT WEEKThe Wall Street Journal reports (here) that Sprint’s first 4G smartphone will be the Android-based HTC Supersonic, which will be unveiled next week at the CTIA industry conference. 4G networks deliver data at speeds up to 10 times faster than 3G (RAIN coverage here). There are also rumors buzzing that the Supersonic may have an FM radio tuner built in (more from Inside Radio here, subscription required).
INTERNET RADIO, SERVED VIA CUBEInternet radio is delivered through a wide range of devices nowadays: phones, picture frames, beanbags, Bluray DVD players and cubes. We’ve seen cube Net radio players before (here) but InTouch’s IT3500 Wireless Internet Radio Cube is a bit more straightforward. The device features an attractive color screen on the front (useful for the radio’s secondary role as a digital picture frame) and back-lit controls on the top. The whole package begs to be the newest device on your bedside table, though there’s no word on pricing or availability yet. Wireless Goodness has more here.Full story (and reader comments): RAIN 3/18: Radio expert says Net radio's low spot load could pressure broadcasters
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RAIN 3/17: Radio legal experts offer free guide to music licensing issues
·4 days ago NEW GUIDE ANSWERS COMMON QUESTIONS ABOUT LICENSING MUSIC FOR THE WEBWebcasters (and others running digital music services) face a sometimes baffling labyrinth of rights and licenses involving that music, and just trying to “stay legal” can be a daunting task. Law firm Davis Wright Tremaine has published (and is offering free access to) “The Basics of Music Licensing in Digital Media” — which answers the most-commonly asked questions from those who use music in online streaming, online video, downloads, and commercials.
Internet radio legal specialist David Oxenford is a DWT attorney and co-author of the guide (and, he’ll speak at our RAIN Summit West April 12th in Las Vegas — more info here.). Oxenford and co-author Robert J. Driscoll explain the different rights that can be implicated by the use of music, the controversy surrounding digital music use, and the concept of “fair use” and how it applies. It’s bedrock information that broadcasters and webcasters need to understand, and you can read it here. UK SONGWRITERS’, PUBLISHERS’ DIGITAL EARNINGS GROWTH OUTPACES LOSSES FROM FALLING CD SALESRoyalties that songwriters, composers, and publishers earn in the UK from digital music sales is reportedly growing faster than their earnings from CDs are falling. Licensing organization PRS for Music (which represents 65-thousand UK songwriters, composers and music publishers) says UK online revenues for its members grew 73% last year (from £17.6 million to £30.4 million). Revenues from CD and DVD sales were down, but only £8.7 million, making 2009 the first time annual growth in online revenues has been higher than the fall in revenues from CD or DVD sales. Overall 2009 global revenues for its members totaled £623 million, up from £608.3 million in 2008. Check it out from the BBC here.
DMARC FOUNDER HILLES JOINS EX-CC COLLEAGUE IN NEW VENTURETwo former Clear Channel Radio execs have scored a $550-thousand investment for their new venture. Robert Williams and Drew Hilles formed Digital Brand Connections to “build proprietary digital media players for well-known brands to stream rich media to their customers and fans.” A primary customer target will reportedly be sports franchises.
After Clear Channel, Hilles founded dMarc Broadcasting, which Google bought in 2006 for its now shuttered radio advertising project. Read more here. Full story (and reader comments):RAIN 3/17: Radio legal experts offer free guide to music licensing issues
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RAIN 3/16: Online radio pioneer KPIG turns to subscriptions to manage royalty burden
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·5 days ago MAPLETON CEO BETS SUBSCRIPTION TAKE WILL OUTPACE AD REVENUEAll Access reports Freedom, CA-based KPIG, as of yesterday, will charge a subscription fee to access its online stream as a well to contain royalty costs. Subscriptions cost a little over $5/month.
KPIG parent Mapleton Communications President/CEO Adam Nathanson told the news source, “The more listeners you have and time spent listening, the more royalties the radio station pays to SoundExchange. Converting the online stream to a subscription model that is ‘commercial-free’ makes business sense as it will preserve the KPIG online stream with subscriber support and also address consumer demand for more PIG music online.” Radio Paradise founder Bill Goldsmith was webmaster at the adult alternative station when it launched the world’s first full-time webcast in 1995. All Access has more here. NPR CREATING ALTERNATE VERSION OF SITE SPECIFICALLY FOR APPLE IPADNot only is NPR.org preparing an app for the anticipated Apple iPad, they’re designing a “Flash-less” iPad-specific version of the website. Apple’s iPhone and the new iPad (which arrives early next month) do not run the standard version of Adobe’s nearly-ubiquitous web software Flash, so applications and websites (seemingly most these days) that use it don’t function on the devices. The result will be that an iPad user looking to tune in to NPR can either download the iPhone app (which will work on the newer device), or simply go to NPR.org on the iPad’s browser. The site will know it’s being viewed on an iPad and display the “Flash-less” version of the site. Read more from AllThingsDigital here.
Kinsey Wilson, the Senior Vice President and General Manager of NPR Digital Media, will present the keynote address at the RAIN Summit West in Las Vegas April 12. More info and registration here. SONOS RAISES $25 MILLION IN NEW FUNDING Sonos, the maker of network-connected audio systems like the ZonePlayer (which you can control with an iPhone; RAIN coverage here) and the multi-room BU250 system (here), has raised $25 million in a Series C round of financing. The round comes from Index Ventures. Mike Volpi, a partner with Index Ventures, will join the Sonos board. The money will help Sonos expand into China and Japan. VentureBeat has more on the story here.
PHONES WITH 4G SPEEDS COMING SOON FROM SPRINT AND VERIZONBoth Sprint and Verizon have announced release windows for high-speed 4G phones. Sprint says the first device will come in the first half of 2010 — with “dozens of [4G] devices” coming by the end of 2010, according to CEO Dan Hesse — while Verizon says their first phone will arrive mid-2011. Sprint’s 4G networks are built on WiMax technology, whereas Verizon utilizes Long Term Evolution (LTE).
Both offer data speeds much faster than 3G networks, up to 10 times faster according to Forbes (here). However, 4G networks are expensive and may signal the end of unlimited data plans, as Verizon’s chief technology officer tells The Wall Street Journal (here). “It’s one thing to say all you can eat is gone,” he said. “It’s another to have consumers worrying, ‘Can I stream this radio?’ That’s what we don’t want.” PEW: INTERNET RADIO REACH APPROACHING 33%Nearly 1 in 3 Americans now listen to Internet radio, reports the Pew Project for Excellence in Journalism’s in its 2010 “State of the News Media.” The 236 million Americans listening to broadcast radio has held relatively steady the past five years, compared to sliding numbers for network news and newspapers (online and cable news is up, however, indicating a more “on-demand” behavior in consumers). However, “new technology is encroaching on the amount of traditional radio use,” with around 40% of respondents saying they listen to radio less because of time spent on the iPod/MP3 player. Radio Ink has more here. Full story (and reader comments):RAIN 3/16: Online radio pioneer KPIG turns to subscriptions to manage royalty burden
Broadcast Law Blog
RAIN 3/19: Pandora, Blip.fm, BIA/Kelsey, Marketron execs sign on to RAIN Summit roster RAIN 3/18: Radio expert says Net radio's low spot load could pressure broadcasters RAIN 3/17: Radio legal experts offer free guide to music licensing issues RAIN 3/16: Online radio pioneer KPIG turns to subscriptions to manage royalty burden RAIN 3/15: Pandora CEO Kennedy's keynote, expert panels highlight successful RAIN Summit North RAIN 3/11: RAIN travels to Toronto for Summit event and Canadian Music Week  |
Kurt Hanson's blog
Apple iPad: No Flash, no multitasking... yet·52 days ago In Monday’s blog, I speculated about the features that might be part of the highly-anticipated Apple tablet that was going to be announced on Wednesday (i.e., yesterday) — noting two key potential features that could have an impact on online radio listening. Feature #1 was the ability to multitask. That would mean that you could listen to Internet radio on an app while you simultaneously read an e-book or surfed the web or wrote an e-mail. Feature #2 was full support for Adobe Flash. That would permit users to launch most webcasters’ media players directly from their websites within the Safari browser, without the need for downloading a unique app for each one. (Such support would also allow viewing of, among other things, TV shows on Hulu.com.) Unfortunately, neither feature was part of the big announcement in San Francisco yesterday. That says to me that the iPhone and iPod Touch will, for now, be the better devices for Internet radio listening. They’re the perfect size and they’ve got great connectivity. The iPad (the name Apple CEO Steve Jobs announced yesterday) doesn’t really add anything to the equation.
Pictured above, a Starfleet-issued PADD (Personal Access Display Device) from the year 2374 (as seen on “Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.”) Tablet computers have been called PADDs in the “Star Trek” universe for the last couple of decades. Did that influence the name of the Apple device? Well, Jobs did show some scenes from the recent “Star Trek” movie in his presentation… However, keep in mind that, in the long run, everything gets better. Compare an iPod circa 2004 (small black & white screen, does nothing but play MP3s, clunky) to an iPod Touch circa 2010 (vibrant large color screen, thousands of apps, elegant) and then project forward six more years. It’ll have everything we’re talking about and much more, including features and abilities that we probably can’t even imagine today. In fact, a year from now, there will no doubt be major improvements already. Progress continues. Plan for it! Full story (and reader comments):Apple iPad: No Flash, no multitasking... yet
Latest CRB royalty news
SoundExchange and "Pureplay" webcasters announce 2006-2015 royalty agreement
·256 days ago SoundExchange and a set of “Pureplay” webcasters on July 7 announced that they had reached an agreement for The deal includes a “discount” from the rates set by the Copyright Royalty Board for large webcasters, and offers smaller webcasters percentage-based payment options (specifics are here). The agreement is offered as an alternative to the CRB rates (RAIN coverage here) and covers royalties from 2006 to 2015 (2014 for small webcasters)… Full story (and reader comments):SoundExchange and "Pureplay" webcasters announce 2006-2015 royalty agreement
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sound recording royalty rates for the period of 2006-2015.
