From the San Diego Union Tribune: "Luis Kaloyan sees the future of radio as a metaphorical mix of retro and new age...

"Yet Kaloyan, president of X1fm Radio, a National City webcaster, has feared for months that his fledgling Internet-only station could be forced out of business because of sharply higher royalty fees proposed by the major record companies for playing their music online.

“'Why do they want to create different rules for us?' Kaloyan asked. 'We're putting our money and our necks on the line because we believe this matters – to create radio the way it used to be.'

"Webcasters and the music industry, particularly the major record labels, have been locked in tough negotiations over the amount of royalties that webcasters must pay to stream music online...

"Although progress is being made, the two sides are far from being in harmony. Among the thorny issues remaining are hikes in the per-song royalty rates for large and medium-size webcasters; the revenue limit for small webcasters; and how much public radio stations must pay for streaming music online...

"But there's also a long way to go in negotiations.

"For instance, webcasters want a higher threshold for what constitutes a small webcaster. They say the revenue limit of $1.25 million is ridiculously low and discourages companies from growing their businesses..

Damage extends to other media
"The proposed fees would hurt not only pure webcasters, but also some over-the-air radio stations that simulcast online. They, too, would have to pay the royalties for the online streams, which could lead them to stop the simulcasts...

"Webcasting, say its proponents, provides an outlet for music that's not being played on terrestrial radio, whether it's salsa or ragtime or jazz or older artists who have been abandoned by major labels.

"Live365 played music from more than 200,000 artists last month, [Live365 GM Johnie Floater, pictured right] said. 'Jack-FM says, "We have the widest playlist in the world. We have 3,000 artists." But the fact is anytime people hear more product and more artists, it may not generate a major label sale,'...

"Kaloyan of X1fm said Internet radio is a friend to artists...

“The only way for us to have a chance to promote, expose this music to listeners is through this new technology,” Kaloyan said. 'It's the same industry. It's just a different technology.'”

Read the entire article at SignOnSanDiego.com

RAIN is brought to you today by:
	There's huge, and growing, demand among consumers for Internet radio (at least during the 9AM-5PM workday), as shown by the rapid growth of our AccuRadio project. AccuRadio features a variety of popular music formats that you simply can't find on the broadcast dial: Swingin' Pop Standards, Brit Rock, Piano Jazz, Broadway and more at www.AccuRadio.com.

From Wired's Listening Post blog: "Google has agreed to pay the MCPS-PRS, the UK organization that collects publishing royalties on behalf of songwriters, composers, and publishing companies, for the use of songs by its members, on its YouTube site. 

"Google's blanket fee covers a full 10 million songs by MCPS-PRS members, but the organization will only pay royalties on 'the top 5 or 10% that attract the highest audience,' according to the Financial Times.

"The article credits Andrew Shaw, MCPS-PRS's managing director for broadcast and online, with a stunning explanation for the decision:  'The long tail is not worth calculating.'

"Essentially, if you're a songwriter whose songs end up on YouTube but not in the top 5 or 10%, MCPS-PRS will give your money to someone who wrote a more popular song...

"Granted, MCPS-PRS's chief executive Steve Porter said his organization plans to work with YouTube on new methods for identifying music played on the site.  But with Google already paying the blanket fee to MCPS-PRS's largest constituents, it's hard to imagine that organization sweating the details of paying its smaller members — especially after making such a dismissive statement."

Read the entire article at Wired's Listening Post blog.

From MediaPost: "What's in a Hulu? If all goes according to plan, a slew of network shows led by News Corp. and NBC Universal. The long-awaited name for the upcoming joint venture... was finally announced Wednesday to an industrywide chorus of yawns and guffaws.

"'The first thing I thought of was those little plastic hula girls people put on their dashboards,' said Mike McGuire, an analyst with Gartner Research.

"'Come on,' pleaded Forrester Research analyst James McQuivey. 'It sounds like they figured that all the good company names were already taken,'...

"'I give this a negative infinity out of 10, with YouTube being a 10,' added TechCrunch commenter Jason Moy.

"Worse still, critics of the long-form video distribution platform... received more ammunition when Hulu CEO Jason Kilar said the site would miss its previously announced late-summer release date.

"'Now it's October?' quipped Forrester's McQuivey. 'We all knew they weren't going to make it by end of summer, but now you have to ask where else could they come up short.'

"Added McQuivey: 'I hope they bought every URL with a variation of the spelling, because no one's going to know how to spell Hulu.'"

Subscribers can read the entire article at Online Media Daily.

Advertisement