From FMQB: "[Yesterday's] Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on 'Exploring the Scope of Public Performance Rights' saw both sides of the debate on the additional royalty for radio speak before lawmakers. Singer-songwriters Lyle Lovett and Alice Peacock spoke on behalf of musicFIRST, the organization pushing for the performance right.

"When radio plays recorded works, they generate profit for themselves because they attract listeners and advertising dollars. Yet radio has never compensated performers for the value their creative work brings to the radio industry, because the Copyright Act does not protect sound recordings in the same way it protects the underlying songs,” said Lovett...

"NAB Radio Board Vice Chairman Steven Newberry, President/CEO of Commonwealth Broadcasting Corporation, spoke on the organization's behalf at the hearing. Newberry said, 'The existing model works for one very simple and significant reason: the promotional value that the record labels and performers receive from free airplay on local radio stations drives consumers to purchase music. A survey done by Critical Mass Media shows that 85 % of listeners identify FM radio as the place they first heard music they purchased. With an audience of 232 million listeners a week, there is no better way to expose and promote talent."

"Newberry added, 'What I fail to understand after nearly 30 years in the radio industry is why the recording industry is willing to essentially bite the hand that feeds it... The negative effect of such a dramatic increase in radio station costs will be felt by radio stations and their listeners across the country and in every one of the states you represent,'...

"Alice Peacock rebutted the NAB's argument, saying, 'Every performance has the potential to be promotional, but why should that make a difference? I just got back from a gig in Grand Rapids, MI. Imagine if the club owner used the same logic about promotion. What if at the end of the night, after I had filled his club with paying customers, he told me he didn’t have to pay me because my performance helped promote my record sales... Frankly, the promotion argument sounds a little silly.'"

Read the entire article at FMQB.

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From a press release at Forbes.com: "baseBEAT.com is pleased to announce a new digital advertising product, baseBEAT Internet Radio, with interactive promotions outside and inside.

"The baseBEAT Internet Radio provides customer-responsive marketing for a client's website, or any third-partypartner website, with the celebrity appeal of popular music delivered by exclusive branding and product messaging on the player and audio content itself...

"The Director of Sales, David Bean (pictured right), called the new baseBEAT Internet Radio  'an advertisers dream, a pop-up that isn't blocked and stays on while surfers navigate the Web,'...

"A promotional baseBEAT Internet Radio with interactive billboard advertising is available for promotional demonstration through Singapore Airlines' United States website. baseBEAT currently supplies Singapore Airlines with 12 channels of music from its extensive library, including: Top 40 Hot Shots, Soft Rock, Complete Classical and J-Pop & Asian Hits."

Read the entire story at the Forbes.com.
Longtime RAIN readers will remember David Bean from his days as VP of Radio Programming at MusicMatch.

From EETimes.com: "Wireless chip specialist CSR is readying a Wi-Fi internet radio reference design that it says has an electronics Bill of Materials of just $15 in volume and thus changes the economics of designing products for internet radio reception.

"Dubbed the RadiPro, the design incorporates CSR's UniFi single-chip Wi-Fi technology,...

"According to Ronen Kenig, product marketing manager at CSR's Consumer Business Unit, products using the RadioPro will be available in shops next month.

"He adds CSR believes that by 2009, 40% of MP3 and portable media players will offer Internet radio capabilities, as would half of all DAB and satellite radios and a third of home Hi-Fi systems. Other applications are likely to include iPod docking stations and set top boxes.

"The low power design of RadioPro boasts up to 25 hours of active streaming time running on a 1500mAH battery. RadioPro provides wireless streaming of internet radio via Wi-Fi, without the need for a PC, and can support over 10,000 radio stations through a dedicated internet radio portal."

Read the entire article at the EE Times.

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