SoundExchange Reporting Blog

One question that comes my way regularly in regards to music streaming is about podcasting and whether it falls under the terms of the CPB-SoundExchange webcasting agreement. The short answer is that it doesn’t. The statutory license administered by SoundExchange only covers non-interactive digital music offerings (e.g. streams).

Offering copyrighted recordings as part of a podcast is whole other matter from doing it via a stream/webcast and introduces a whole new set of legal questions. When someone asks me about it, I always refer people to their own legal counsel in order to understand all of the intricacies involved.

Recently, this question came up on the Public Radio Discussion Group mailing list and someone (only identified as Will R) posted links to two very, very useful articles on the legal and copyright issues around podcasting. They were so good that I wanted to share them here for those not on the list.

The first was Podcasting Stripped to Basics by Carly Didden of the law firm Garvey Schubert Barer.

The second was the more detailed Podcasting Legal Guide, for those who really want to get into the nitty-gritty.

If you’re thinking of podcasting music I highly, strongly and fervently recommend that you at least read the former. Great stuff.

Big thanks to Will R for sharing these articles, whoever you are…!

The Bluegrass Review is now providing playlists to Public Interactive for the purpose of SoundExchange reporting. This means that if your station streams the show, we can now integrate their playlist data into your quarterly SoundExchange reports, thereby helping you comply with the reporting requirements – so that’s good!

Please join me in thanking the Bluegrass Review folks for providing these data!

If your station streams the show, please be 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 The Bluegrass Review 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.

Finally, remember, if you haven’t already opted-in for coverage under the new CPB-SoundExchange Webcasting Agreement, do it now! Lots of stations already have, but a good number of you that were covered under the old agreement (which expired at the end of 2010) still haven’t. Until you do, you’re on your own for royalty payments and reporting to SoundExchange…!

Good news for those of you who stream Afropop Worldwide: they’ve begun uploading playlists to Public Interactive for SoundExchange reporting purposes! Big thanks to the folks there for providing the data to us so you guys can meet your reporting requirements.

If your station streams the show, please be 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 Afropop Worldwide from the list of syndicated programs on the Edit Program page.

If Afropop 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.

Finally, remember, if you haven’t already opted-in for coverage under the new CPB-SoundExchange Webcasting Agreement, do it now! Lots of stations already have, but a good number of you that were covered under the old agreement (which expired at the end of 2010) still haven’t. Until you do, you’re on your own for royalty payments and reporting to SoundExchange…!

Recently, the folks at SoundExchange held a webinar geared towards webcasters, that is you folks who stream music. It was, to put it mildly, extremely informative. They covered many of the basics of the statutory license, royalty rates, reporting requirements, various Webcasting Service Agreements (such as the CPB-SoundExchange agreement), etc. It also included a lengthy Q&A session that touched on many interesting issues.

For those who didn’t attend, SoundExchange has made a video of the webinar available on their YouTube channel. I’ve also embedded the webinar video below.

You can also read the questions and answers that came up here, but I strongly, enthusiastically, and most definitely whole-heartedly recommend watching the entire video, so you can hear the discussion before the Q&A for background. Trust me, you’ll learn a lot about what this whole thing is about and who SoundExchange is and exactly what they do (and don’t do).

Some of the takeaways, for me:

• The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), which governs all of this is  real law and the penalties for breaking it are potentially high
• Much like myself and Public Interactive, SoundExchange cannot provide legal advice
• SoundExchange cannot provide waivers for the DMCA’s Performance Complement, even for classical music; only the rights holders (i.e., the labels) can do so

But, please, do yourself a big favor and make time to watch the webinar video.

Finally, in addition to webinars like this and the aforementioned YouTube channel, SoundExhange also offers lots of helpful information for both stations and artists on their blog, as well as via Facebook and Twitter. Check it all out.

The fine folks at the syndicated show Hearts of Space are now providing playlists to Public Interactive for SoundExchange reporting purposes.

If your station streams Hearts of Space, please be sure that your schedule grid in Composer Basic/Pro accurately reflects when you offer the show. Also, make sure when adding it to your grid that you select Hearts of Space from the list of syndicated programs on the Edit Program page.

If Hearts of Space 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.