SoundExchange Reporting Blog

We had a strong showing this Quarter, thanks for all your diligence and attention to detail. It benefits all our member stations in the long run.

• Licensees reporting: 302
• Content channels covered: 473
• Total Aggregate Tuning Hours (ATH)* devoted to music streaming reported: 18.5 million

One ATH = One hour of content streamed to one listener.

This means of course we’re able to start accepting Q1 2013, logs and playlists.

You should be able to select that quarter in Composer when ever you log in next.

The Deadline for Q113 submissions is April 5^th 2013.

Thanks!

Last year we announced changes that would be taking place in 2013. You can read the initial announcement here, and the follow up details on the streaming file format standards announced in Q4 2012.

Dan Gurin is no longer with NPR and we are working to rebuild a team for supporting SoundExchange. For any and all SoundExchange questions, updates, submissions, or concerns; please email SoundExchange@npr.org. Or you can submit a support ticket and we will get back to you as soon as possible. Going forward we ask that this email or ticket system be the primary point of contact for all things SoundExchange.

We will be migrating the bulk of this content into the NPR Digital Services web site and will be shutting down this blog by summer 2013.

While you will still be able to find documentation and instructions at this location, the time has come for this blog to move to our new Core Publisher site. Please see the SoundExchange Topic or Tag on the Digital Services Core Publisher site for SoundExchange updates. See the pages on this blog for information and instructions about SoundExchange reporting.

Now that Phil is gone it’s just you, me and hopefully the a/c as we get our SoundExchange reports in for Q2. You should know the drill by now, but if you don’t, check out some pages or let me know if I can assist you in getting your data in. I look forward to twice checking your station off my list soon.

After three fun-filled years as the host of this great SoundExchange reporting party, I’m sad to say that I will be leaving NPR Digital Services at the end of this week. My last day here will be this Friday, June 29th.

(Un)fortunately, just because I’m leaving doesn’t mean the SoundExchange party will end! Your reporting will continue to work just like it has been, at least through the end of 2015. The only difference will be you’ll now have a different SoundExchange contact person here at Digital Services.

Allow to me introduce him – Dan Gurin. Dan’s been at Digital Services for the last two years and before that spent time at several public radio stations. He’s smart, he’s helpful and he’s an all around good guy. Some of you may already have worked with him on other DS products, such as Core Publisher. Dan will take excellent care of you.

You can reach Dan with SoundExchange questions or submissions by emailing him at soundexchange@npr.org or give DS a jingle at 617 622 5400.

Dan is ready to accept and review your Q2 SoundExchange data which – I’m sure you’ll recall – is due to us by Friday, July 6th.

Getting the chance to work with so many fine stations and so many great people these past few years has truly been an honor. Thanks again and best of luck to you all…:}

Last week I made my way to Houston for the always enjoyable NFCB conference. While I was disappointed not to witness any cattle roping or oil well drilling, I was not disappointed by the conference itself. Ginny et al always put on a great show.

My purpose in attending was to lead a session on the changes to SoundExchange reporting that were recently announced. Thanks to those who attended. Here are the session slides that were presented, in case you missed it or if you’d like to frame one or more for your den.

Oh yeah, and don’t forget, the deadline to get us your Q2 SoundExchange reporting data is quickly approaching – Friday, July 6, 2012. If you haven’t already, get your data to us!

Attention! Atención! Attenzione!

An important announcement has just been posted regarding the future of SoundExchange reporting through NPR Digital Services. Please be sure to review it here.

Also, for those currently attending the NFCB conference in Houston, be sure to come to the session I’ll be leading on Friday morning (June 15th) at 8:00am in the Regency room (2nd floor) to discuss all of this.

And, if you’re in Houston, be sure to keep hydrated; feels like being on the surface of the sun here.

Attention NFCB members: I’ll be attending your fine annual conference in Houston next month to talk about the future of SoundExchange reporting through NPR Digital Services. Some important changes to the process will be coming later this year and I’ll leading a panel discussion about them on Friday June 15 at the very early hour of 8:00am.

So, if you’re going, don’t stay out too late on Thursday night drinking Texas beer or eating BBQ or roping cattle or whatever. We want you there bright eyed and bushy tailed!

For you non-NFCB members, or those not attending, we’ll be sharing these changes with you as well, via the usual channels (email, blog post, social, smoke signals, etc.) in June, so keep your eyes and ears peeled.

The deadline for submitting your next round of SoundExchange data to NPR Digital Services - for Q2, April 1 through June 30 - has been set: Friday July 6, 2012!

Exciting, right?

Of course, the fact that we’re now accepting data for Q2 means that we finished and submitted the Q1 2012 reports to SoundExchange – which we did last week. It was another great showing by you fine folks. Here are the raw numbers:

• Licensees reporting: 319
• Content channels covered: 517
• Total Aggregate Tuning Hours (ATH)* devoted to music streaming reported: 17.3 million (13.9 million when adjusted to a monthly average)
• Total sound recordings reported: 868k (and then some)
• Total performances reported**: 223 million (give or take)

* One ATH = One hour of content streamed to one listener

** One performance = The streaming of one recording to one listener

That right there is some serious amount of reporting data.

Thanks, as always, to everyone who made a serious effort to meet their reporting obligations. Remember, you’re not doing it for our benefit; you’re doing it because it’s your legal responsibility. If you stream music, you must report or risk being in violation of federal copyright laws.

But you already knew that – right? Of course you did.

Anyway, keep up the good work and get that Q2 data to us ASAP.

We’re glad to announce that the fine folks at PubMedia are now uploading playlists for their PubJazz 1 service regularly to NPR Digital Services.

This means that these data are now available for the following:

1. Display in Composer Pro playlists
2. Use in quarterly SoundExchange reports

All without you having to do (much of) anything. Good news for a Monday, yes? Yes.

Your one task, if your station streams the show, will be to make sure that your schedule grid in Composer Basic/Pro accurately reflects when you offered it. Also, make sure when adding it to your grid that you select PubMusic PubJazz1 from the list of syndicated programs on the Edit Program page.

If the show was already in your grid, you’ll need to go back in and select it from the list of syndicated programs so that we’ll know to integrate those playlists into your quarterly SoundExchange reports.

The PubMedia team also plans on uploading playlists for their other services (PubJazz 2, Blues, etc.) in the near future. So keep your eyes peeled for announcements from that we’re receiving those data as well.

Finally, if you’re not sure whether a syndicated program you stream is uploading playlists to NPR Digital Services – or if you’re not sure what to do if you know a program doesn’t – then take a look at this post which reviews the basics.