...

... This lawsuit highlights one of the most critical issues facing Internet radio: How much "interactivity" is too much? According to the DMCA, webcasts only qualify for the statutory RIAA license if ‘‘the transmission is not part of an interactive service..." ("Interactive" webcasters have to negotiate separate rights agreements with every single record label.) However, when the DMCA refers to "interactive" stations, it seems as if it might be referring to "on-demand" services in which listeners can pick specific songs they want to hear next. The RIAA is taking a far more aggressive position -- namely, that almost any consumer ability to influence the stream makes the service interactive. (Example of this might be a "skip" button or the ability to adjust the proportion of different genres of music the listener hears.) In the U.S. legal system, unclear definitions like this are typically defined more clearly as a result of lawsuits being resolved in court. Thus, this RIAA vs. Launch lawsuit (or an earlier RIAA vs. Sonicnet lawsuit) may be a landmark ruling that determines for everyone the level of interactivity that is "too much." -- KH ..

BY PAUL MALONEY
Just this morning, we received an e-mail informing us of the newly redesigned Radio Sonicnet. The actual changes made seem to be pretty minimal (mostly along the lines of music news and info, and "recommendation" features). However, Radio Sonicnet still features "My Station," a function which allows listeners to add or remove individual artists and genres from their customized stream.

It's actually not as flexible as it sounds. Users are only shown a partial list of artists that play on their station (according to the site, the entire list of artists isn't shown because "It's against the law. Federal copyright regulations prevent any Internet broadcaster from displaying a complete list of artists they play...").

One can only remove artists one at a time (out station has nearly a thousand artists), it takes three clicks to complete the process, and the changes don't take effect until the player is reloaded.

Nonetheless, it seemed interesting to receive notice of Radio Sonicnet's "interactivity" in light of the RIAA's suit against Launch.

...

... According to the DMCA, what's required is that ‘‘the transmitting entity does not cause to be published, or induce or facilitate the publication, by means of an advance program schedule or prior announcement...other than for illustrative purposes, the names of the featured recording artists, except that this clause does not disqualify a transmitting entity that makes a prior announcement that a particular artist will be featured within an unspecified future time period..." Presumably, this is to prevent listeners from knowing when specific music will be played (which would enable them to more easily take advantage of opportunities to record their favorites). But Sonicnet is interpreting this law to mean that they are not allowed to show more than 20 artists at a time of a particular stream? Wouldn't showing an entire list, since it's not an "advance schedule," be more for "illustrative purposes?" We don't see how displaying a complete artist list would aid in piracy. But it certainly does make it more difficult to remove new and unfamiliar artists -- which would decrease the labels' marketing leverage on these streams. ..

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From the press release: "EarthLink, the nation's second largest Internet service provider (ISP) as ranked by paid subscribers, and RadioCentral, a pioneering provider of custom interactive radio programming for commerce and content Web sites, have launched EarthLink Radio...

"'EarthLink is among the first Web sites in the world to have its own live, truly interactive radio stations,' said Eric Rhoads, president and chief executive officer of RadioCentral. 'RadioCentral blends the proven efficacy of terrestrial radio with the accessibility of the Internet to create high-quality, leading-edge radio stations that listeners can't always get locally.'"

The release goes on to define "interactivity" as "...Listeners are able to click on buttons of the live 'audio player' when prompted by voice or music cues. Each click produces a screen view of additional information, video content, or the ability to make an instant purchase. Interactivity enables listeners to act -- rather than just listen passively -- immediately after hearing audio prompts for advertised products and services."

Read the piece here.

...

... Ah, yet another interesting definition of "interactivity." Of course, a "live" stream can't be interactive in "industry-accepted" sense -- that is, allowing the user control of the artists, songs, and/or genres heard on the stream. Clickable buttons to view artist information, video content, or make purchases is really nothing revolutionary. The player and the streams are really nice though (and you don't need to be an Earthlink subscriber to enjoy the radio). Look for a follow-up report in RAIN soon. ..

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From RadioInk.com: "McVay Media has entered into an agreement with Internet programmer and consultant, Daniel Anstandig, to represent his services in consultation to Internet radio stations around the world.

"Anstandig is best known as the teen prodigy who built an Adult Contemporary Internet radio station from ground up at the age of 14...called DAER. DAER will continue to operate under Anstandig’s direction...

"Anstandig, 18 years young, will be based at McVay’s Cleveland operation."

Read this piece here.

Radio DAER claims 1.2 million unique listeners and 16 million user sessions each month. Anstandig is pictured above.

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