 RAIN 10/20: Net royalty debate plays in Memphis ·Oct 20, 01:15 PM ARTISTS, WEBCASTERS DEBATE NET ROYALTY AT INDIE CONFERENCE“I can’t get anything played in Memphis because the program director is in Dallas,” said Memphis Music Foundation president Dean Deyo.
“Our artists have a much better opportunity early in their career, before they get established, to get on Internet radio.”
The Indie Impact Music Conference was held on Saturday in Memphis, where artists, music biz insiders and webcasters took up the issue of Internet radio royalties. Pandora’s Tom Conrad and Tim Westergren and John Simson of SoundExchange were among the panelists. “Most people just really want their stuff to be played. They want it heard…They hope to grow a following rather than worry about the small amount they might get paid via SoundExchange,” said Rachel Hurley, a host on BreakThruRadio. “If someone offers to play your music, let them play your music.” For more, read the Memphis Commercial Appeal’s coverage here. PANDORA CUTS 14% OF STAFFThe increasingly grim economy has reportedly forced Pandora to let go 20 of its 140-member workforce — a 14% cut. “Pandora is not immune to the challenges presented by the current economic turmoil,” said founder Tim Westergren.
However, he also laid out a bright future for Pandora: “Our listenership is growing rapidly, the Internet radio royalty rate resolution seems finally near, and the explosion of mobile devices like the iPhone are opening up a world of opportunity for internet radio to expand off the desktop…our ad sales are growing so well that, not only did we not make any reductions there, we need to continue to hire more,” he said. “It’s just hard to be excited about all that today.” For more, read Wired’s coverage here. WORLDSPACE SATELLITE RADIO FILES FOR BANKRUPTCYWorldSpace satellite radio, which was attempting to bring satellite radio to Africa, Asia and the Middle East, filed for Chapter 11 status on Friday. Tom Taylor (in Radio-Info.com) reports that, “WorldSpace was not only a pioneer in the satellite radio programming field, its technology gave XM Satellite Radio its technology platform.” Read more in the Washington Business Journal here.share: del.icio.us.  Reddit  Digg  Yahoo  Wink  Windows  Google  Newsvine 
CommentCommenting is closed for this article.  Other stories RAIN has upgraded (and moved)! RAIN 9/13: RAIN Summit Chicago takes place today! RAIN 9/12: First Summit in RAIN's hometown takes place tomorrow RAIN 9/9: Summer holidays, "doldrums" impact July Webcast Metrics, but audience up over last year RAIN 9/8: Clear Channel launches new customizable iHeartRadio beta; RAIN goes hands-on RAIN 9/7: Meet more speakers you'll hear at RAIN Summit Chicago in less than a week RAIN 9/6: Clear Channel taps The Echo Nest to take on Pandora RAIN 9/2: RAIN reviews Spotify's radio-like product Artist Radio RAIN 9/1: UK online radio aggregator Radioplayer campaigns b'dcasters to create "all radio" ratings RAIN 8/31: Execs from Merlin, Triton Digital, jacAPPS and more to appear at RAIN Summit Chicago |
