Audio4cast

SoundExchange, Broadcasters Chat At RAIN Summit East

September 28, 2009 at 8:00 am Jennifer Lane 1 comment

Last week at the NAB Radio Show in Philadelphia, RAIN hosted a side channel of digital audio related programming in the form of three short panels and a few quick presentations. I spoke on a panel hosted by Dan Halyburton of RadioTime, along with Les Hollander of Pandora, and Matt Sunshine of Center for Sales Strategy. We talked about the business side of Internet radio, and considered the impact of mobile,  measurement, and the future.

One of the “vignettes” at the Summit featured SoundExchange’s Jon Simson and Bryan Calhoun. The discussion by SoundExchange was interesting for a couple of reasons. After battling with streaming stations for years over performance copyright issues centered on rate, reporting, and compliance, they came to offer an olive branch, of sorts. Simson took the time to explain how hard they strive to find every last performer and send them every dollar they deserve of the fees online stations are streaming. He told a few anecdotes of finding old artists that made it personal and real, and that was a good thing. SoundExchange even sponsored the event, which was held in a private room at the Hard Rock Café next to the convention center.

The conversation took a brief, weird turn when Simson warned the crowd that now that rates are settled SoundExchange expects compliance and payments. He even called out one broadcast company for their failure to adhere to the rules, which I though was both antagonistic and counterproductive in terms of the goodwill they apparently intended to convey. Nonetheless, it was a unique moment in the history of Internet radio – the friendliest gesture I’ve seen from the record label side of things, and I’m glad I didn’t miss it.

More to come on the NAB Show and RAIN Summit East this week…

Entry filed under: Internet radio, Royalties, streaming. Tags: Bryan Calhoun, Internet radio, Jon Simson, NAB Radio Show, performance royalty, record labels, sound exchange, streaming.