Today is the day four our annual Las Vegas Summit (with our customary RAIN Reader Cocktail Party following), just steps from the Las Vegas Convention Center at the Renaissance Las Vegas Hotel.

The easiest and quickest way to register and reserve your spot:

• Simply CLICK THE PAYPAL BUTTON BELOW. You don't need to have a PayPal account, just a credit card. Paying by PayPal will automatically reserve your place at the Summit; there's no need to call us.

• If you are paying for more than one attendee, please e-mail us the names of everyone for whom you are paying admission (rainsummit@gmail.com or paul@kurthanson.com).

CLICK HERE TO PAY VIA PAYPAL:

The entrance fee is $75. A very limited number of tickets MAY be available at the door, but that's only while supplies last. We strongly recommend  that you pay via PayPal to reserve your spot.

If you will not be paying viaPayPal, please call us at (312) 527-3879 to reserve your seat(s) for the  event and arrange for payment. Again, however, if you pay  via PayPal, there's no need to call.

Check out the agenda for this year's annual RAIN Las Vegas Summit! We're really excited about the caliber of speakers we have lined up — some of the biggest names from across several industries will surely make for a valuable and entertaining afternoon.

The RAIN Las Vegas Summit '06 is sponsored by BRSMedia's DotFM, Net Radio Sales, and Webcast Metrics.



12:00
Introduction
Kurt Hanson, RAIN & AccuRadio

12:30 
How To Grow Your Audience
Rockie Thomas, Spacial Audio, moderator
Dan Halyburton, Susquehanna Radio
Ari Shohat, Digitally Imported
Frank Kavenik, EMF Broadcasting
Jeff Bachmeier, Club 977

1:15
Speaker
Tim Westergren, Pandora.com

1:35
BREAK  

1:45  
How To Grow Your Revenues
Dan Halyburton, Susquehanna Radio, moderator
Tom Perry, Net Radio Sales
Bryan Jay Miller, WOXY.com
Gregg Lindahl, Cox Radio Interactive

2:15  
Product/Services Showcase
Bob Maccini, Ando Media / Webcast Metrics
George Bundy, BRS / DotFM
Jim Pavilack, Rovion
Mike King, Abacast (tenative)
Mark Bolke, Musicmaster (tentative)

2:45  
"CARP"(Royalties) Update
David Oxenford, Davis Wright Tremaine LLP
Bruce Joseph, Wiley Rein & Fielding LLP

3:00   
BREAK

3:15   
How Internet Radio Can Help the Music Industry
Dave Rahn, SBR Creative Media / Custom Channels.net, moderator
Brian Cullinan, Columbia Records
Paul Maloney, RAIN & AccuRadio
Jack Isquith, AOL Radio
Val Starr, GotRadio.com

4:00   
The Future/The Big Picture
Gregg Lindahl, Cox Radio Interactive, moderator
Jack Isquith, AOL Radio
Tim Westergren, Pandora.com
Rusty Hodge, SomaFM
Jennifer Lane, Net Radio Sales
Kurt Hanson, RAIN & AccuRadio

5:00   
Cocktail Party Begins

5:45
Speaker
David Goldberg, Yahoo! LAUNCHcast

5:55  
Entertainment
[TBA] (tentative)

7:00  
Cocktail Party Ends

From Billboard Radio Monitor: "Initially, Clear Channel’s format lab, an eclectic menu of 75 new, mostly jockless 24/7 channels, was available only to company stations and limited third-party licensees. But now, the company is  pitching the fresh formats to competing broadcasters — smaller operators with fewer resources with which to fill HD and Web bandwidth.

"Working with its Premiere Radio Networks, the radio Goliath will launch in the next few weeks what a spokeswoman describes as a 'pretty significant music and industry marketing campaign' to non-Clear Channel prospects for either HD or terrestrial applications...

"The lab offers seven country formats, from classic to new to rock to artist-driven. Rock is carved up 18 different ways: indie, metal, new alternative, classic alternative, soft, hard, mainstream, active, even an update of free-form FM complete with a Scott Muni clone. There are seven ACs, seven top 40s, 10 flavors of R&B/hip-hop and five in the jazz and blues vein...

"Owens says the percentage of Clear Channel HD2 broadcasts airing formats cooked up in the lab has grown from 52% to 86% in less than four months. However, only the minuscule number of listeners equipped with HD radios can actually hear them over the air, and they are limited to the fraction of formats airing in their local markets. A larger selection is available from Clear Channel station Web sites.

"Six years ago, Sirius and XM Satellite Radio had futuristic studio complexes, an army of eager programmers, some very expensive satellites and no listeners. Similarly, HD2 today is crawling ever so slowly out of the driveway. While a January 2006 Arbitron-Edison Media Research study found 12% of Americans listen weekly to Internet radio, few are listening to radio on HD receivers or cell phones.

"Still, Clear Channel is betting all these platforms are part of radio’s future. 'We’ll go where the audience wants us to,' O’Connor says. 'If the Web unwires and broadband becomes prevalent in cars, we’ll be ready to respond.'"

Read the entire article at Billboard Radio Monitor.

From Red Herring: "In another clear sign that times are changing for the advertising industry, a new report said that Internet advertising revenues in the United States in 2005 totaled $12.5 billion, an all-time,  single-year record.

"The report, released Thursday by the Interactive Advertising Bureau and PricewaterhouseCoopers, said the 2005 total represents a 30 % increase over 2004. Revenue in the fourth quarter of 2005 was $3.6 billion, a 34 % boost from the same period in 2004.

“'Interactive advertising continues to experience tremendous growth as marketers experience its overall effectiveness in building brands and delivering online and offline sales,' said Greg Stuart, chief executive of the Interactive Advertising Bureau...

“'The targeting is better on the Internet, given the ability to identify purchasing moments. Marketers spend an awful lot of money telling  traditional media they don’t know what their ads are doing,' Stuart said. 'With the Internet, they know exactly what’s going on.'"

Read the entire story at Red Herring.