SoundExchange Reporting Blog

As we all try and recover from the insanity that was Q3 SoundExchange reporting (well, some of us aren’t done with it yet – so recovery will have to wait), I would like call everybody’s attention to this recent decision by the Copyright Royalty Board.

The gist of it is that the CRB has decreed that most digital music services must now do census reporting! That means full-quarter, 24×7 reporting of what music you stream, not sample, 14-days-per-quarter reporting that most stations covered by the CPB-SoundExchange deal must do.

The good news for stations covered by the CPB-SX deal is that this decision does not apply to you and you get to keep doing sample reporting through the end of 2015.

After that, well, we’ll just have to see.

So, see – it could be worse. Like six-times-the-amount-of-work-worse.

A few other things to note:

• The article reiterates the data fields that must be reported for each song streamed: Title, Artist, Album and Label.
• You’ll see mention there also of reporting the number of performances (or actual total performances – ATP) of each song, which is the number of people who actually heard the song. Stations covered by the CPB-SX agreement reporting through Public Interactive don’t have to calculate this number. We do it for you for reporting back to SoundExchange, but in order to do so we need the start and end times of each song play (or the start time and duration), as well as your streaming access logs.
• One statistic not mentioned in the article but that stations also have to calculate and report are total Aggregate Tuning Hours (ATH), for all programming. Stations reporting under the CPB-SX agreement instead report their Music Aggregate Tuning Hours (MATH) – or the ATH for just music programming – which, again, Public Interactive calculates on behalf of stations, using the start and end time of each song play and the streaming access logs.

So, to summarize, if the CPB-SX agreement were not in place (and had the CPB not hired Public Interactive to help with reporting), most public broadcasters would have to:

1. Still collect all of the same data about songs streamed, not just for two weeks a quarter, but for every song streamed, all day, every day.
2. Use the raw data to calculate the required SoundExchange statistics (ATP and ATH), or pay for software or a service that will do these calculations, instead of having PI do it for free.
3. Pay performance royalties to SoundExchange, instead of having the CPB pay the royalties.

Feel better now?

Finally, I draw your attention to the last two sentences in the article:

In recent meetings, SoundExchange has indicated that it is going to emphasize reporting requirements, and potentially take action against webcasters who ignore their obligations.  Don’t become an example.

If you are not doing so already, I urge you to begin complying completely with the reporting requirements.

Last week a number of us from Public Interactive, NPR and the CPB were interviewed by Karen Everhart of Current about the CPB-SoundExchange agreement and some of the issues this has raised with stations. The resulting article that Karen wrote was published this week and is pretty good. I encourage you to read it, if you haven’t already.

Karen did a good job of getting the facts straight; I only noticed one error in the article. The following comment is not right:

Under the current contract, some 270 stations, or 60 percent of the 450 that are eligible, are required to begin reporting this year.

The agreement is actually to report on 60% of music ATH in the system by the end of 2009 (and 80% by the end of 2010), not 60% of the covered entities. Just for the record, your honor.

As many of you classical music folks will recall, there has been a semi-open question about how to report to SoundExchange when an entire classical piece has been played. When I initially asked SoundExchange this question, they reported that stations should report each track as it is broken down on the CD or album by the record label. That is to say, if a label breaks a Beethoven symphony into four separate tracks, and the whole symphony is played, then all four tracks need to be reported separately.

Understandably, many of you expressed concern over this requirement, since it can create a lot more work, particularly when pieces with lots of movements (e.g. operas) are played in whole.

Actually, “concern” is an understatement.

So, I went back to SoundExchange and explained the issue and asked if they were really sure about their initial answer. Could stations, I asked, just report the whole piece are one, rather than having to list each track separately?

It took a while but they finally got back to me with a final, definitive answer.

Which most of you won’t like.

For better or for worse, they have reaffirmed their first answer. They still want stations to list each track in a piece separately, as they are broken down by the record label.

I wish I could give you guys the answer you wanted. I tried, I really did, to plead the case. But, no go.

That is the requirement so, as I have said all along, do your best to meet it.

Last week the CPB announced that it has reached an agreement with SoundExchange to cover music streaming by public broadcasters through 2015. Recall that the agreement reached earlier this year covered the period January 1, 2005 through December 31, 2010. The new agreement runs from January 1, 2011 through December 31, 2015.

The new agreement is similar to the existing one, and contains the same basic parameters:

1. The CPB covers all royalty payments for all covered stations for the period of the agreement.

2. Stations must continue to report quarterly (through Public Interactive) on the music they stream and the number of people that heard it. The vast majority of stations will continue to do only sample reporting (i.e. reporting on two weeks out of each quarter). Currently, only the top 20% of streamers have to do full-census reporting; starting in 2010 (under the current agreement and continuing through the next agreement) the top 30% of streaming music stations will need to do full census reporting. Public Interactive will stations know if they fall into the top 30% of music streamers.

3. Stations are still responsible for abiding by the terms of the Performance Complement of the DMCA.

This is good news for everyone. Honest.

Below is an official mailing on the agreement sent out last week.

Feel free to contact me with questions.

To:       Public Radio System Leaders
From:   Bruce Theriault, Senior Vice President, Radio, CPB;  Jeff Luchsinger, Director, Radio System Investment, CPB
Date:   August 6, 2009
Subject: New CPB-SoundExchange Agreement 2011 – 2015

Dear Colleagues;

We are pleased to announce that the Corporation for Public Broadcasting(CPB) has reached an agreement with SoundExchange (SX) that defines the terms, conditions, and costs for public broadcasters to provide (music) sound recordings over the Internet for the period Jan. 1, 2011 through December 31, 2015.

As you will remember, CPB and a team including NPR and the Station Resource Group came to an agreement with SX in January of this year for the period 2004 – 2010. The new agreement was reached under the Small Webcasters Settlement Act, which was recently amended by Congress and signed by the President to permit the execution of agreements under the Act until midnight, July 30, 2009. The new agreement continues to recognize public radio’s special public service mission and non-commercial nature. It also maintains public radio’s commitment that artists and labels featured on public radio station websites receive the compensation to which they are entitled.

CPB will make annual payments to SX over the term of the new agreement to cover qualified public radio stations (CPB qualified, NPR member and NFCB member stations) and NPR, PRI, APM, and PRX. The type and format of the reports that public radio stations must provide to take advantage of the new CPB-SX blanket agreement are essentially unchanged from those described in the current agreement. To secure the benefits of these agreements most stations will have an obligation to provide quarterly data on usage of their Internet streams and accurate playlists of sound recordings played on their websites. A sub-set of stations will be required to provide census reporting. These reports supply SX with the information necessary to make payments to artists and labels.

Earlier this year CPB selected NPR/Public Interactive (NPR/PI) as the sole agent to collect and report public radio music streaming activities to SX and to assist stations in complying with the reporting requirements. PI has been moving quickly to get stations up to speed and provided the first quarterly reports to SX last month. The deadline for the next set of quarterly reports is October, 16, 2009.

As many of you have already heard me say, I’m am not a lawyer – nor do I play one on TV or in the workplace. Depending on your outlook, this may be a good thing or a bad thing. Unfortunately, for you stations that have asked me specific questions about the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), specifically about what restrictions it imposes on what you can and can’t stream, that means I can’t answer your question.

The DMCA is, to put it mildly, confusing. In order to really understand it or interpret it, I would strongly recommend you consult your own legal counsel, as Public Interactive cannot provide legal counsel or advice.

However, we can direct you to something called the Performance Complement to the DMCA which outlines the basic restrictions on streaming. You can download it here. We strongly recommend that everybody take a look at it.

Honestly, though, beyond sharing this document, we can’t offer any advice. Again, please consult with your own legal counsel for proper interpretation and guidance.

Perhaps I should have gone to law school after all… oh well.

For those interested, here is the actual agreement signed between CPB and SoundExchange, laying out the full reporting specifications. It is in the public domain and can be shared feely with anyone, including vendors interested in providing CPB-SX compliant reports or data.

It’s chock full of legal-ese and makes for great before-bedtime reading!

A number of stations have asked about reporting copyrighted recordings that are used as interstitials or in music beds. Also, stations have asked whether there is a general threshold for music length, under which a recording does not have to be reported to SoundExchange.

After discussing this with the folks in the know (i.e. those involved in crafting the agreement between the CPB and SoundExchange), we have come up with the following answer:

1. Any sound recording under 30 seconds does not need to be reported to SoundExchange, BMI, ASCAP, etc.

2. Any sound recording played between 30 and 60 seconds does not need to be reported to SoundExchange. However, BMI and ASCAP do care about these. Also, it’s possible that SX will want to know about such recordings in the future, so stations are advised to log them. But, again, they don’t currently need to be reported for SoundExchange.

Also, some stations have asked about whether, if they cannot fully comply with the SoundExchange reporting, they should stop streaming now. While neither I – nor Public Interactive – can recommend whether or not a station should stream, stations should know that by 2011 they will need to be fully compliant if they wish to continue streaming. Stations should take the take the time between now and then to log the required information about each sound recording played for the purpose of reporting back to SX through Public Interactive.

More information about the agreement is available here.

The great SoundExchange (SX) reporting project here at Public Interactive is well underway!

I’ve already begun reaching out to stations to request data, explain the project and answer questions (of which there are many!). We have also begun scheduling webinars for various station groupings (NPR, NFCB, IMA, etc.) to better explain what this all means and how it will work. Look for invitations for a webinar coming soon to a computer near you!

The initial round of reporting is due to SoundExchange in mid-July. However, be aware that we are beginning by collecting data and log files from the largest streamers first (in terms of aggregate tuning hours, ATH), so not all stations need to provide us with these data just yet. But please be aware that we will soon be requesting playlist and streaming log data from your station, so if you are not already keeping track of the music your stream, please start now!

As a reminder for all stations, regardless of the volume of your streaming, please be sure to register with both the CPB and Public Interactive as soon as possible, to ensure you are covered and included under the CPB-SoundExchange agreement.

First, register with CPB and review and accept the music rights agreement. Stations that registered for Internet music rights coverage with the CPB before January 29, 2009 must re-register!

http://www.cpb.org/stations/musicrights/registration.html

It is important to note that stations are not considered covered by the agreement until they register with the CPB and accept the terms of the agreement!

Second, register with Public Interactive to participate in SoundExchange reporting. All stations must register explicitly with Public Interactive for SoundExchange coverage, whether or not they are already PI clients.

http://www.publicinteractive.com/sx-registrationform.html

Finally, please sign up with Public Interactive to receive SoundExchange email newsletters,

http://platform.publicbroadcasting.net/pi/email.emailmain

Be sure to check SoundExchange under “Modules and Services You Use.”

I look forward to working with all of you on this very important project. Feel free to contact me at any time with questions, concerns or comments.

Hello World!

I’m Phil Johnson, the new SoundExchange reporting project manager at Public Interactive. I’m writing to introduce myself and to give you a little background on this important initiative and the next steps for everyone.

I’m new to Public Interactive, but not new to public broadcasting. For the past seven years I worked as the Director of Technology for WGBH Online in Boston. I’m hoping to use my knowledge of and passion for the public broadcasting industry to make this project a success for all involved.

As you may know, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) and SoundExchange (SX) came to an agreement on public radio’s streaming (webcasting) royalty rights earlier this year. CPB has since chosen Public Interactive (PI) to collect and report public radio music streaming activities to SX.

The idea of the agreement between the CPB and PI is to simplify the reporting process for stations and ensure proper and timely compliance as per the agreement reached between the CPB and SX. To that end, PI will develop new tools and processes (and enhance its existing Composer product) for stations to provide streaming usage and playlist data to PI, and will then generate and submit the required reports to SX. This will be done free of charge to stations and does not require stations to purchase PI’s Composer product or streaming services.

Please note that the agreement between the CPB and SX and, as a result, the tool that PI will develop for reporting, only applies to music streamed over the Internet; it does not cover songs downloaded or podcast over the Internet.

REPORTING REQUIREMENTS AND TIMING

Stations wishing to be covered by CPB’s rights reporting agreement with SX must provide quarterly data to PI on stream usage (the total number of hours of programming transmitted to all listeners within the US) and songs played (e.g. Title, Artist, Album, Label, Play Frequency) during the reporting period.

Initially, most stations will only need to provide streaming and song data for two 7-consecutive-day reporting periods within each quarter. Eventually, all stations will need to provide complete data for each quarter in order to achieve compliance.

The first set of reports is due from PI to SX in mid-July, 2009. Going forward, they will be due within 30 days of the end of each calendar quarter.

THE PROCESS

In a nutshell, the reporting process will work as follows:

1. Stations that are PI clients that use both PI Composer and streaming services (i.e. host their streams through PI) will not need to do anything beyond registering to participate in SX reporting with the CPB and PI.

2. Stations that are PI clients but do not use PI’s Composer or streaming services will need to upload streaming usage or playlist log files via the new PI tool. Stations will be responsible for obtaining and uploading the required log files to PI each quarter. PI will work with stations and develop the reporting tool to accommodate the various log file and output formats of the streaming hosts and playlist tools.

3. Stations that are not PI clients need to register with PI and upload both streaming usage and playlist log files via the new PI tool.

4. Using station-provided log files and/or Composer and PI streaming logs, PI will generate and submit compliant reports directly to SX at the appropriate intervals.

NEXT STEPS FOR STATIONS

Stations wishing to be covered by CPB’s rights reporting agreement with SX should do the following as soon as possible:

1. Register with CPB and review and accept the music rights agreement. Stations that registered for Internet music rights coverage with the CPB before January 29, 2009 must re-register!

http://www.cpb.org/stations/musicrights/registration.html

It is important to note that stations are not considered covered by the agreement until they register with the CPB and accept the terms of the agreement!

2. Register with PI to participate in SX reporting. All stations must register explicitly with PI for SX coverage, whether or not they are PI clients.

http://www.publicinteractive.com/sx-registrationform.html

3. Sign up with PI to receive SX email newsletters,

http://platform.publicbroadcasting.net/pi/email.emailmain

Be sure to check SoundExchange under “Modules and Services You Use.”

4. If your stream is not hosted by PI, identify and contact your station’s streaming host or content data network (CDN) and request access to streaming usage (access) logs. Stations will need to either obtain streaming usage logs from the host or provide PI with direct access to the files (e.g. via FTP). Also, stations will need access to these logs for at least three months in the past in order to be compliant with quarterly SX reporting. I will be able to help stations work with streaming hosts and CDNs to identify, archive and share these files with PI.

5. Identify the source of streaming song playlists. If your station programs streaming playlists using a commercial application (e.g. Spintron), contact the vendor and let them know that you will need to generate a quarterly data export file. Stations using homegrown solutions (e.g. spreadsheets, custom playlist software, etc.) will need to identify a way to export the data for transmission to PI. Again, I will be able to help stations work with the appropriate vendors or technical staff to generate and share these files with PI.

Fields required by SoundExchange for each song streamed are:

Sound recording title
Featured artist, group or orchestra
Album
Marketing label
Start time of play
End time of play OR song duration

NEXT STEPS FOR PI

I will begin to contact stations that have registered with both the CPB and PI to request streaming and playlist data files for evaluation and parsing.

PI is developing a web application to allow stations to either enter or upload log files to PI for reporting. This tool will not be in production for the initial round of reports (mid-July); instead, PI will work directly with stations to obtain the necessary streaming and playlist log files and produce SX compliant reports.

FURTHER INFORMATION

The official announcement of the agreement between CPB and SX is available here:

http://cpb.org/pressroom/release.php?prn=699

The official announcement on PI’s agreement with CPB is available here:

http://www.publicinteractive.com/sx-pressrelease.html

General information on the agreement between PI and SX is available here:

http://www.publicinteractive.com/sx-info.html

FAQs are available here:

http://www.publicinteractive.com/sx-faqs.html

Feel free to contact me with any questions or concerns using the contact info below.

Phil Johnson
SoundExchange Project Manager
617.423.4499 x138
pjohnson [at] publicinteractive [dot] com

http://twitter.com/PhilJohnsonPI