SoundExchange Reporting Blog

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.

Just wanted to remind y’all (or, as we said it back in my native and beloved Pittsburgh, yinz) of a couple of important events and items. Namely:

1. I’ll be traveling to Baltimore next week to speak at the annual Public Radio Programming Conference. Be sure to stop by my session or the NPR Digital Services booth and say hello!

2. The deadline for submitting your Q3 SoundExchange data to us is starting to get uncomfortably close (close enough to start raising my blood pressure, at least): it’s a little over three weeks away: Friday, October 7, 2011.

3. Finally, while more and more syndicated shows are submitting playlist data to NPR Digital Services, many still do not. If you stream one that doesn’t, you (unfortunately) are responsible for getting the required data and uploading to us along with your local playlists. If you produce a syndicated show that is not currently sending playlist data to us, then please start!

I hope to see many of you next week in Baltimore!

If your station streams either (or both) Concierto or Acoustic Café, your SoundExchange reporting just got easier. Both shows are now uploading playlists to NPR Digital Services, so you don’t need to gather that data yourselves for your quarterly reporting.

Big thanks to the folks at those shows for making everybody’s reporting life easier.

Now, to make sure that we are able to properly integrate the playlists for those shows into your SoundExchange reports, you need to do the following:

Go to Create/Edit Program Guide in Composer Basic or Pro and make sure that your schedule grid properly reflects when you stream these shows.

Also, whether you just added the show to your grid or it was already there, make sure that it is now selected from the list of syndicated programs on the Edit Program page, like so:

Finally, after making changes to your schedule, make sure to click the go live with changes button on the Create/Edit Program Guide screen to make it official.

Reminder: the full list of syndicated shows that provide playlists to NPR Digital Services for SoundExchange reporting is here.

If a syndicated show that you stream is not on this list, then your station is responsible for obtaining and reporting the required playlist data to NPR DS. More details on that here.

Question: What to do if your station streams a syndicated program, particularly a music show, but that show is not listed as one of those that currently provides playlists directly to NPR Digital Services for SoundExchange reporting?

Answer: Two options:

1. Request the required playlist data directly from the producer and submit it to NPR Digital Services like you would playlists for your own local programming

and/or

2. Encourage the producer to contact us to begin uploading playlist data for the show directly to NPR Digital Services

The latter is the best solution, since your station – and any others that stream the show – wouldn’t have to worry about collecting and submitting the show’s playlists each quarter. Instead, you can just add the show to your schedule grid in Composer Basic or Pro, mark it as a syndicated program, and then sit back, relax, and not worry about properly reporting the music played by that syndicated show.

While NPR Digital Services already collects playlists for many widely syndicated programs (not just music shows, either) as a service to make reporting easier for stations, please be aware that your station is ultimately responsible for reporting all of the music on your streams – and it is your station that could pay a very steep price for copyright infringement if the music on a syndicated program is not properly reported to SoundExchange.

So, if there are syndicated programs that you stream which (a) play music that needs to be reported to SoundExchange but (b) are not currently providing playlists to NPR Digital Services, contact the producers now to make sure the data comes to either you or us.

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…!

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.