 RAIN 6/10: House passes Webcaster Settlement Act of 2009 ·Jun 10, 10:57 AM MEASURE TO AGAIN EXTEND WEBCAST ROYALTY TALKS AWAITS SENATE APPROVALThe U.S. House of Representatives passed the Webcaster Settlement Act of 2009 on Tuesday. If passed into law, the bill will give SoundExchange and webcasters an extra 30 days from when the bill is passed to settle on an acceptable royalty rate. The Webcaster Settlement Act of 2009 was introduced to the Senate in late May (RAIN coverage here).
The original Webcaster Settlement Act of 2008 passed in October of last year and set a deadline of February 15, 2009 (RAIN coverage here). Some Internet radio groups settled on new royalty rates with SoundExhange under the original Settlement Act, including public radio and the NAB. However, SoundExchange failed to hammer out a deal with many webcasters — including “pureplay” webcasters, small commercial webcasters, and religious broadcasters — by the February deadline. The new Webcaster Settlement Act of 2009 would provide an extra 30 days to reach deals with these webcasters. LAST.FM FOUNDERS STEPPING DOWN, “HAND THE REINS” TO CBSLast.fm founders Felix Miller, Martin Stiksel and Richard Jones have announced that they will be stepping down, “to begin the process of handing over the reins” to CBS. The founders made the announcement on Last.fm’s blog, which you can read here. CBS bought Last.fm for $280 million in May 2007 and recently incorporated the music site into the CBS Interactive Music Group (RAIN coverage here). CBS has not yet announced who will run Last.fm. For more, read Music Week’s coverage here.
LEGENDARY RADIO STATIONS RETURNING ONLINE, ON HD2Today it’s “legendary rock radio station” WHFS, which returns to the Washington D.C. airwaves on 94.7 HD2 as HFS. Online and mobile streaming will be added in coming weeks. The new HFS features D.J. Cerphe, a fixture of the station in the late seventies. Other beloved stations are also being brought back to life online and on HD2, including WBCN in Boston, KSHE-2 in St. Louis, and KROCK-2 in LA (KROCK’s throwback to their ’80s incarnation).
EMMIS STATIONS WILL STREAM ONLINE USING STREAMTHEWORLD, ANDO MEDIAEmmis Communications has announced it will soon be streaming all of its radio stations online using StreamTheWorld technology. Ando Media will track the new streams’ listenership and manage ad placement. Emmis’ WQHT (Hot 97) is already streaming online using StreamTheWorld and Ando Media. Emmis stations previously streaming will be updated to the new technology by June 24. For more, read Emmis’ press release here.
PANDORA HIRES HIGGINS AS VP OF SALES STRATEGYPandora has hired Aimee Higgins to fill the newly-created position of vice president, sales strategy and planning. Higgins most recently served with CafeMom in New York as vice president, strategy and creative services. She also previously served with Fox Interactive Media, where she worked with MySpace, IGN, Fox, American Idol.com, Photobucket, and Fox Sports.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 |
