 RAIN NEWS NOW 03/03: WOZ TO OPEN CONVERGENCE CONF., BUSINESS WEEK ON RADIO ONLINE, CANADIAN MUSIC WEEK ·Mar 3, 11:13 AM APPLE COMPUTER CO-FOUNDER STEVE WOZNIAK TO OPEN CONVERGENCE ’08. Apple Computer co-founder Steve Wozniak, “Woz” as he is BUSINESS WEEK: RADIO MAJOR MEDIA “LEAST-SUITED” FOR ONLINE TRANSITION: Business Week columnist Jon Fine writes that among major consumer media, radio will have the hardest time making a CANADIAN MUSIC WEEK STARTS LATER THIS WEEK. This terriffic Toronto-based music and radio conference, which includes hundreds of bands playing at dozens of clubs, has keynote speakers including Jim Balsillie, CMW PANEL: NEW MEDIA AND THE FUTURE OF RADIO. Panel description: “While broadcasters contemplate spending millions of dollars on HD radio, are they leaving much bigger opportunities on the table? Top new media experts discuss the challenges of competing with iPods, extending station brands online, the opportunities for ‘long tail’ formats and for broadcasters launching personalizable, national brands, and much more.” Panelists include Jeff Vidler, Solutions Research Group; Stefan Powell, Astral iMedia; Deborah Esayian, VP Emmis Interactive, Emmis Interactive; Chris Byrnes, President, Byrnes Media; and Andy West, Manager of Product and Label, Yahoo! Music Canada. Moderated by Jeff Woods, Director of Content, Splice Interactive Media, Toronto, Thursday, 4-5pm. CMW PANEL: BROADCASTING AND WEBCASTING ROYALTIES: THE BATTLE HEATS UP. “As business models evolve and broadcasters distribute content via multiple platforms, does it make sense to add additional tariffs for the use of music in different media such as internet? This panel of copyright experts will weigh in on the on-going battle of broadcasting and webcasting royalties.” Moderator: Walter McDonough, General Counsel, Future of Music Coalition. Panelists: Paul Spurgeon, VP Legal Services/General Counsel, SOCAN; Michael Geist, University of Ottawa Faculty of Law; David Basskin, President, CMRRA; Sundeep Chauhan, VP & General Counsel, Neighboring Rights Collective of Canada (NRCC); Rob Braide; VP/GM CJAD /Mix 96/CHOM-FM, Montreal; David Oxenford, Davis Wright Tremaine, Washington. DC; Kurt Hanson, Publisher, RAIN: Radio and Internet Newsletter; and John Simson, Executive Director, SoundExchange. Friday, 2:40pm-3:40pm. XM AND SIRIUS EXTEND THEIR DEADLINE TO MERGE. According to published news reports today, the two satellite radio firms have agreed to extend their agreement to merge their two companies by an additional two months, until May 1st. Their original agreement allowed either party to walk away if the deal did not close in one year (i.e., by March 1st of this year). The companies are still waiting for regulatory approval from the FCC and Department of Justice. Two two companies’ combined stock prices have gone down about 18% over the course of this past year. GOOGLE ADSENSE GOES “CPA”: Google has reportedly switched all of its AdSense clients to a cost-per-acquisition, or “CPA” compensation model, a move which will (at least in the short run) drastically decrease business for stations. “Taylor on Radio-Info” quotes one AdSense user that Google informed him to expect to lose 70% of his current AdSense advertisers. Longer term, Google “expect(s) to see advertisers pay higher rates and allocate more dollars to radio as a result.” Google says is made the move to CPA in order to use Google’s own tools to track responses to spots, which “(provide) the measurability and accountability our online advertisers have come to expect.” share: del.icio.us.  Reddit  Digg  Yahoo  Wink  Windows  Google  Newsvine 
Comment Other stories RAIN 8/19: Top webcasters hold their ground in July's webcast metrics ratings RAIN 8/18: Pandora tells press it's nearing "pull-the-plug" decision RAIN 8/15: iPhone doubles Pandora mobile listening; experts say mobile wi-fi should scare FM, satellite RAIN 8/14: Net radio's educated, affluent, at-work audience impacts July PPM RAIN 8/13: CBS Radio says growing digital revenues spurred by online ratings spike RAIN 8/12: For Pandora iPhone ads, the future may be "all about ears" RAIN 8/11: Wilhelms: Labels will take at least 50% of a radio royalty, but Simson's op-ed never mentions it RAIN 8/7: Salem's Internet gains ease pain of losses on radio side Bob Bellin on the satellite radio merger RAIN 8/6: "Gulf" between viewpoints may stall royalty compromise, says Oxenford |
known to his friends like Apple 
successful transition to the online world. While newspapers, hardly an online success, daily create and own lots of content, most radio content is music or syndicated talk — which can be found nearly anywhere. And while newspapers have lots of staff to create and maintain a web site, radio stations simply don’t have the manpower to constantly be generating unique, local content. And that likely won’t change any time soon, Fine argues, as even the top broadcast web departments are only contributing 1%-2% of revenues. Fine’s column is 
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