SoundExchange Reporting Blog

OK, folks, the current calendar quarter ends in a couple of days, so you know what that means: we are once again about to hit another SoundExchange reporting deadline. This one is for Q1 2010 (January 1 – March 31) and those data are due to us by Friday, April 9, 2010.

If you have already submitted Q1 data to us, and you’ve checked with me and I’ve told you it looks good – then THANK YOU. You are the wind beneath my wings and you should be sleeping soundly!

If you have submitted data to us but have not confirmed with me that we have what we need, you should do so ASAP, so that you, too, can sleep soundly.

If you have not yet submitted your reporting data to us for Q1, you must do so by the data submission deadline to ensure that we can generate reports on your behalf.

The basics on the SoundExchange reporting through Public Interactive are available here.

As always and ever, contact me with any questions.

Just wanted to bring to everybody’s attention a very interesting rundown of the basics of music licensing in digital media here, recently written by David Oxenford and Robert Driscoll. They do a first rate job of describing many of the issues in layman’s terms. I highly recommend that everybody take a few minutes to read it.

DISCLAIMER: I myself am not a lawyer, and so cannot provide any further interpretation of these issues for you. If you ask I will recommend – as I already have to many – that you consult with your own legal counsel about any questions involving interpretation of the laws that govern all of this (i.e., the Digital Millennium Copyright Act).

Mr. Oxenford just published a piece today about how SoundExchange is starting to contact stations that are in not in compliance with royalty payments for music streaming. I’m not aware of SoundExchange having yet contacted of any of stations covered by the CPB-SX agreement for non-compliance – but I assume it’s only a matter of time. Don’t be one of those stations!

On another note, the deadline for getting Public Interactive your Q1 2010 SoundExchange reporting data is fast approaching. Please please please don’t wait until the last minute to submit your data!

Charles Dickens wrote that line 150 years ago in reference to the time before and during the French Revolution, yet it could still apply today. To wit…

The best of times: spring will, uh, spring this weekend!

The worst of times: Q1 2010 SoundExchange reporting data are due to Public Interactive in a just a couple of weeks. Well, three weeks from this Friday, to be exact. That due date is Friday, April 9, 2010.

Rather than rehash all the particulars again, allow me to simply link to my previous post which lays it all out.

Just because the deadline is still three weeks away is no reason to wait to get us your data! The earlier you get it to us, the more time we have to identify issues with your data and the more time you have to resolve them and make any revisions. If you submit data at the last minute you run the risk of not having the time to make any fixes and, thus, not being included in the reports we submit.

Thanks to all who already provided their Q1 data to us. We love you early birds!

Wow – it seems like we just finished up gathering data for the Q4 2009 SoundExchange reports. But don’t look now, because just five weeks from this Friday – that’s Friday, April 9, 2010 – is the deadline to get Public Interactive your Q1 2010 SoundExchange reporting data!

Here, again, are the basics, which hopefully folks are getting familiar with:

1. All reporting data must come from within Q1 2010, that is between the dates of January 1 – March 31, 2010.

2. Playlist log files that meet our formatting requirements are required from all stations that are not PI Composer Pro clients. Also, streaming log files are required from all stations that do not host their streams through Public Interactive.

3. Any data files that need to be provided to PI should be uploaded to us using Composer Pro or Basic. To do that, go to Upload Playlists/Streaming Logs under SoundExchange Dashboard in the global navigation.

4. Every station that doesn’t report on the full quarter must specify the start dates of their two chosen reporting weeks using the SoundExchange Dashboard in Composer Pro/Basic. To do that go to View Reports under SoundExchange Dashboard in the global navigation then click on Edit Report Dates for Q1 for each of your streams. Then uncheck the Disregard dates and use full quarter instead check box and use the date drop downs to specify the two starting dates of your chosen reporting weeks.

5. If your station streams Classical 24 you must enter or update the guide information in Composer Pro/Basic for each stream to properly reflect when you streamed C24 during your reporting period, so that we can integrate those playlists into your reports. To do that go to Create/Edit Program Guide under Program Guide Composer in the global navigation. NOTE: When adding the Classical 24 program in your guide, be sure to set the Program Format to Classical: C24.

If you have already uploaded files to us and have not yet confirmed with me that we got them and they are in the correct format LET ME KNOW! Call or email me and I will verify whether we received your files and if the formatting is correct.

If you are not a Composer Pro client of ours and do not yet have your Composer Basic login, let me know and I will give that to you.

Finally, not many folks have weighed in on what they might like to learn from all this data that we’re collecting for SoundExchange reporting. We’d like to be able to give back and share information with the system, but we need your input! Take a look at this post and add your ideas as a comment.

Onward!