 Yahoo, AOL may abandon web radio, reports Bloomberg News ·Nov 29, 01:48 PM From Bloomberg.com: Yahoo! Inc. and Time Warner Inc.‘s AOL unit may shut down their Web radio services after being hit with a 38 percent increase in royalties to air music. “We’re not going to stay in the business if cost is more than we make long term,’‘ Ian Rogers (pictured, below), Yahoo and AOL stopped directing users to their radio sites after SoundExchange, the Washington-based group representing artists and record labels, began Radio sites have been “dealt a severe blow,’‘ said Jeffrey Lindsay, an analyst at Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. in New York. “It seems very unlikely that at this stage a solution will be reached.’‘ Yahoo…is promoting a music service offering videos and songs for sale rather than its LAUNCHcast, the largest Web radio site, Rogers said. As a result, the number of people using LAUNCHcast fell 11 percent to 5.1 million in October, according to ComScore. AOL Radio users declined 10 percent to 2.7 million… Radio sites attracted 51.2 million U.S. visitors last month, more than a quarter of all U.S. Web users. According to analyst Lindsay, the higher fees will “kill the growth’‘ of Yahoo’s LAUNCHcast. Revenue at Yahoo’s music unit may rise 4.7 percent to $45 million in 2008, compared with a 19 percent increase this year, he estimated. LAUNCHcast accounts for about a quarter of the division’s sales, Lindsay said… “The current math doesn’t add up,’‘ said Lisa Tim Westergren (pictured, right) at popular website Pandora says … “If we don’t think there’s a real answer that’s going to happen, it’s our fiduciary responsibility to stop” providing the online radio service… “We want to make sure there’s fair treatment of everybody,’‘ said Richard Ades, a SoundExchange spokesman. “That doesn’t mean cutting what the recording artists are paid…’‘ Read the full Bloomberg article here.
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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 |
general manager at Yahoo’s music unit, said in an interview.
collecting the higher fees in July… 
Namerow, managing director of 
Dear RAIN:
Your continuing coverage of the impact of the new CRB royalty rates is appreciated.
As director of a noncommercial network, I am unclear whether the alliance of DiMa, NPR and small commercial webcasters is still intact and engaged with Sound Exchange?
Or, have NPR and CPB opened up a separate dialogue with SX purely for noncommercial broadcasters?
Regards,
Rob Robinson
robrobin@rcn.com
The Pacifica Foundation
— Rob Robinson · Nov 30, 02:27 PM · #
Rob,
I believe that each of the three groups of webcasters you mentioned in your second paragraph is holding SEPARATE discussions with SoundExchange.
None has reached a substantative conclusion yet, as far as I know, but no dialogues have broken down, either.
— Kurt Hanson · Dec 3, 12:45 PM · #