March 2007

Chris Brogan tagged me for a round of “7 Songs” blog tag. Here’s my list — a few favorites of the moment. These are of course subject to change within a few minutes. To keep tabs on what I’m listening to, check out my page at last.fm. I’ve been digging into Whiskeytown a lot in the past twenty-four hours.

• Everything I Do - Whiskeytown
• We Made A Killing - The Casual Lean
• Delirious Love - Neil Diamond
• Show Me - The Blizzard of 78
• Everybody Here Wants You - Jeff Buckley
• Trickle Down - The Tragically Hip
• It’s All Good - Shööt The Möön

And because it deserves posting a second time, here’s the video for Shööt The Möön’s “It’s All Good.” They’re playing a “Tuesdays in April” residency at the Abbey Lounge in Somerville on April 3, 10, 17 and 24.

I’m tagging Michael, Regina, Brad, Halcyon and Heath.

[Here's the previous entry I wrote about the CRB decision.]

Live365 sent out an email earlier today to me (and the other 10,000) internet radio webcasters who broadcast their station via Live365. I still don’t understand who receives the fees that SoundExchange collects. Prior to this new ruling the fee I paid to Live365 ($59.95/month for 1GB of music library storage plus streaming) also covered ASCAP, BMI, SESAC and SoundExchange fees. But I still have no clear idea who SoundExchange is collecting fees for — bands, record labels … who gets the money? How does the new minimum fee of $500 (retroactive to 2006!) that SoundExchange is charging get passed on to bands and/or record labels that play on Exploit Boston Radio? I’m primarly playing unsigned or small label bands. Do they see any of this money?

Dear Live365 Broadcasters:

Recently, the Copyright Royalty Board (CRB) made an initial ruling of alarmingly high new royalty rates for Internet radio for the 2006-2010 period. The ruling increased sound recording royalties by 140% over the next 4 years and included a $500 minimum fee per station per year. The CRB is now rehearing our arguments against these unrealistic fees, but we must keep the pressure on.

With around 10,000 stations the previously released rates would mean an additional $5 million per year owed by Live365 and our broadcasters. Should this decision stand, most small webcasters on Live365 would be driven out of business and listeners would lose diversity in radio programming and choice in radio content.

We’ve created a special broadcaster webpage that has tools and information to help. This new page includes congressional addresses and contact information, sample letters, a broadcaster story submission form, details on changes we will be making to the Live365 services, and more.

Please check it out at www.live365.com/broadcasterchoice.

Though the CRB is rehearing our arguments, you still must make your voice heard by the lawmakers on Capitol Hill. Call, write, e-mail, and/or visit your Representatives and Senators today!

We will continue to fight for a realistic ruling and will work with our broadcasters, audiences, partners, and DiMA to appeal with the DC Court of Appeals if our motions are not granted.

You, Live365 Broadcasters, are our voice. Our voice must resonate to be heard and to save Internet radio. We’ve weathered this storm before and will do so again!

Sincerely,

Jason Stoddard
Director, Broadcasting
Live365 Inc.

I spoke to business reporter Hiawatha Bray at The Boston Globe earlier this week about the new internet radio royalty rate increase. The resulting article is in the Boston Globe today. You can read it at boston.com. And hey, they even LINKED to Exploit Boston. This is no small accomplishment for the Globe, apparently — sometimes they link, but most times they do not.

A few details to clarify: Exploit Boston isn’t a music blog but it does include an event blog, internet radio station, photo collective and monthly board game night. Exploit Boston Radio has a couple hundred bands in rotation with 524 songs in the library. And there are dozens of listeners per day not total/overall. (What a sad day that would be if 24 people total listened to the station in one month. Ha!)

I’m all in favor of artists being paid for their work. But the way this rate increase is structured means there’s a $500 per station minimum and it is only charged to internet radio broadcasters and not terrestrial radio. Obviously this means small broadcasters are likely to go off the air and they are the ONLY STATIONS playing new/emerging/independent bands in regular rotation. Awesome. So if you are tired of hearing the same Top 40 bands on regular radio, now you can tune into internet radio and hear the same music over and over.

I was hoping Hiawatha would include my comments about podcasting. I really prefer to run Exploit Boston Radio through Live365 as an internet radio station. But if these rates really go through, I’m either going to have to shut down the station entirely or set it up as a podcast. And I really, really don’t want to run it as a podcast. The amount of time it would take to set that up and maintain would be annoying at best. I pay a monthly fee to Live365 that covers the music storage and streaming plus the ASCAP, BMI and SESAC fees. Podcasts are great for the ocassional show but to run a 24-hour station with several different playlists — not my idea of fun. Especially as a labor of love project.

Michael chimes in, too.

If you want to help save internet radio, Live365 has set up a helpful page of information and you should also contact your Senators and Representatives. If you’ve got some time on your hands, read the 115 page PDF of the Copyright Royalty Board decision about the internet radio royalty increase.

The Interactive Playpen @ South by Southwest is returning this year with lots and lots and lots of plastic toys. Ryan Gantz and I conspired with the fest’s director Hugh Forrest to set this up at SXSW Interactive last year. It was a lot of fun and the music festival ended up keeping the toys around for their part of SXSW, too. A zillion little LEGO blocks will be dumped on the floor in the northwest corner of the first floor of the Austin Convention Center March 9-18.

Things like the Interactive Playpen are why I keep going to the festival. If you have an interesting idea, they’ll listen and try to work with you. I was on the advisory board for a few years, moderated a panel and participated on other people’s panels over the years. This year will be my 7th and I am downright giddy. For a while it looked like I wasn’t going to be able to go but things worked out and I’ll be there the 10th-13th.

Looking around the web for a page to point to about Hugh, I found this entry on Marc Canter’s blog and I couldn’t help but wonder if he (and a few other SXSW complainers) were talking about an entirely different event. Hugh and his cohorts have orchestrated something that is absolutely incomparable since the first SXSW Interactive Festival joined the SXSW family in 1994. It was a little bit unconference before that word started to become popular recently. Everyone who attends the festival is a participant: the panelists participate — they are not just there to swoop in and bestow some presumed wisdom upon us. They are one of us, too.