Eligible broadcasters have until April 2 to notify SoundExchange of their intention to operate under the NAB/SoundExchange streaming royalty agreement (RAIN coverage here). DC-based media attorney Gregg Skall has written a thorough walk-through of the terms of the deal for Radio Business Report. In it he explains the annually-increasing rates, minimum fees, the small broadcaster opt-out option on reporting, payment for past use, and the Aggregate Tuning Hour option. Read Skall’s (pictured) explanation in Radio and Business Report here.

Industry attorney David Oxenford published a detailed explanation earlier this month here. Additionally, the NAB’s own rundown of the deal is here.

Finally, for various industry observers’ takes on the wisdom of the deal, see RAIN here. Of course, WBEB/Philadelphia owner Jerry Lee made his thoughts on the deal known last week when he shut down his station’s popular stream (see RAIN here and here plus Kurt’s blog here.)

JACOBS STUDY: 35% OF PUBLIC RADIO LISTENERS USE NET RADIO WEEKLY

PUBLIC RADIO INTERNATIONAL TO SHARE PROGRAMMING VIA WIDGETS

PRI produces and distributes programs like “The World,” “The Takeaway” and “This American Life,” and distributes news services like the BBC World Service and Capitol News Connection.

BBC PLANNING ALL-IN-ONE ONLINE RADIO “CATCH-UP” PLAYER

PANDORA’S NEW CHIEF REVENUE OFFICER IS JOHN TRIMBLE

Comment

1. Concerning the lead article, my expectation is that the larger, better-financed broadcasters will continue to stream their signals over the Internet under this deal, at least temporarily. However, I don’t see many new broadcasters coming on line any time soon, and I do think that smaller thinly financed outfits will exit the internet, despite the provisions made for them. It is these stations, mostly found in small towns, that will be hit hardest when Congress approves (and the president signs) pending legislation requiring radio outlets to pay the recording industry for over-the-air broadcasts of their music.

   Speaking of the pending bill, I have finally found a lone broadcast outlet requesting readers of its web site to contact their Congressional representatives about the pending bill. WNWN-FM is a small country station licensed to Coldwater, a small town in southern Michigan near the Indiana border. From the station’s website:

   “PLEASE WRITE YOUR LOCAL REPRESENTATIVE

   Reasons to Oppose these Bills Include:

   H.R. 848/S. 379 was introduced on February 4th on behalf of the Recording Indusrty Association of America (RIAA) and the big, internationally-owned record labels.
   A recent economic study concluded that the promotion from radio airplay is directly responsible for $1.5 – $2.4 billion dollars worth of music sales for the big record labels – and that figure doesn’t even include the additional billions in promotion for concert tickets and merchandise sales. In fact, 85% of listeners of all audio services identify radio as the place they have heard new music.
   When you consider what local radio stations provide to communities and listeners around the country, including emergency alerts, AMBER alerts, and local news, weather, local community programming, it’s critically important to maintain a vibrant radio industry.
   All parties are fairly compensated by today’s system. The free promotion that record labels and performers receive from radio airplay drives album and concert sales, which ultimately results in compensation for record labels and performers. Although the recording industry has seen it’s revenues decline over the last decade, local radio broadcasters are not the reason the recording industry is losing money, and it should not be the industry to fix it.
   The existing system actually provdes the epitome of fairness for all parties: free music for free promotion.”

   http://www.wnwn.com/shared/WN/ViewContent.asp?id=6297

   (Please note that I have maintained all misspellings from the quote on the web site.)

   — ted chittenden · Mar 23, 05:50 PM · #

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