SoundExchange Reporting Blog

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 folks at SoundExchange will be holding a webinar for service providers (i.e., you folks who stream music) this Thursday, January 27, 2011 from 2:00 – 3:00 EST.

The webinar isn’t solely devoted to you folks covered by the CPB-SoundExchange agreement, but it should be full of information relevant to all webcasters. Plus, you’ll have a chance to ask questions (they encourage you to submit them in advance). I’ll be listening in, but not particpating.

So I encourage all to register now, submit your questions and plan on attending.

Thanks to all who participated in yesterday’s webinar on SoundExchange reporting for syndicated shows. We had a good crowd on the line and there were lots of excellent questions asked. Below are links to a number of related files, web pages and documentation.

As promised, here are the slides from the presentation.

The video of the entire webinar can be downloaded here (format: WMV, size: 38MB).

General information on reporting by syndicated show producers is available here.

Specifics on playlist file formatting is here (including links to sample files and spreadsheets).

Details on uploading playlist files to PI are here.

As always, feel free to contact me with follow up questions or to register your syndicated show with PI so you can begin to submit playlist files to PI. Be sure to send me the following information:

• Show Name
• Show Contacts – People responsible for data submission to PI. For each, please provide: name, title, phone number, email address
• Show URL
• Playlist Management Tool (if any) – e.g., spreadsheet, Music Master, etc.
• Is this a syndicated 24×7 stream? If so, please provide the timezone for the playlists files that will be submitted

I’ll respond with the FTP account information that you’ll need to begin submitting data to PI.

Just want to remind everyone of two important SoundExchange-related events that are coming up soon:

1. We’ll be conducting a webinar this coming Thursday, September 16, 2010 from 2:00-3:00 EDT for producers of syndicated programming streamed by stations covered under the CPB-SoundExchange agreement. Anybody is welcome to attend, but we’ll be discussing a reporting process that’s specific to those folks. Here’s the description and registration information:

If you produce a syndicated show streamed by public radio stations, please join us to learn how to submit data on the music you stream to Public Interactive (PI, a division of NPR) for use in the generation of quarterly reports to SoundExchange (SX). This webinar will discuss the terms of the recent CPB-SX webcasting performance agreement and what syndicated show producers need to do to ensure that stations streaming their shows are in compliance with the terms of this agreement. We’ll discuss the required reporting data, as well the format and method in which the data should be reported to PI. The presentation will be followed by a question and answer session.

Title:         SoundExchange Reporting for Syndicated Show Producers
Date:        Thursday, September 16, 2010
Time:        2:00 PM – 3:00 PM EDT

Reserve your seat now at: https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/796174776

After registering you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the Webinar.

System Requirements

PC-based attendees
Required: Windows® 7, Vista, XP or 2003 Server

Macintosh®-based attendees
Required: Mac OS® X 10.4.11 (Tiger®) or newer

2. Q3 2010, believe it or not, will soon be over which means, if you haven’t already, please get your Q3 reporting data (covering July 1- September 30, 2010) to Public Interactive as soon as possible. We’ve set a deadline of Friday, October 8 to submit your Q3 data to us but please please pretty please do not wait until the last minute to submit your data! It leaves little to no time to correct errors and deal with unforeseen problems (e.g., missing streaming logs).

Anyway, as always, the basics of reporting are detailed here.

Onward!

As you hopefully know by now, Public Interactive (PI) currently collects music playlists from a number of syndicated programs for the purpose of integrating them into quarterly SoundExchange reports for stations that stream those shows. PI does this to help make SoundExchange (SX) reporting compliance easier for stations that have chosen to be covered by the CPB-SX webcasting performance agreement.

Until now, we’ve gotten playlists mainly (though not exclusively) from those programs syndicated through the “big three” networks (NPR, PRI, APM). However, we know that there are lots and lots of other syndicated shows out there, and we’d like to pull as many of those shows into the SoundExchange reporting fold as possible.

To that end, I’ll be hosting a webinar on Thursday, September 16 at 2:00 PM EDT to talk about SoundExchange reporting for syndicated shows. In the webinar we’ll discuss the terms of the recent CPB-SX webcasting performance agreement and what data syndicated show producers need to provide to ensure that stations streaming their shows are in compliance with the terms of this agreement. We’ll discuss the required reporting data, as well the format and method in which the data should be reported to PI. The presentation will be followed by a Q&A session, and a representative from the CPB will join us to help answer questions.

Why is this important? Because producers who do not provide the required song data for SoundExchange reporting are putting the stations that stream their shows at risk of being in violation of copyright laws! If you, or someone you know, offers a program for syndication to public radio broadcasters, please plan on attending or passing along the invitation.

Here are more details, including registration information, on the webinar:

Title:         SoundExchange Reporting for Syndicated Show Producers
Date:        Thursday, September 16, 2010
Time:        2:00 PM – 3:00 PM EDT

Reserve your seat now at: https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/796174776

After registering you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the Webinar.

System Requirements

PC-based attendees
Required: Windows® 7, Vista, XP or 2003 Server

Macintosh®-based attendees
Required: Mac OS® X 10.4.11 (Tiger®) or newer

We hope to see (er, hear) you there! Yes – YOU!

In case you can’t get enough of SoundExchange-related things, what with the Q2 2010 data submission deadline just two weeks away, SoundExchange themselves will be hosting a webinar for webcasters next week. According to their web site, the webinar will be on Wednesday, June 30 from 1:00-2:00PM ET and they’ll be discussing the following:

• Licensing options for new and existing services
• What services need to submit and why it’s important
• What happens to the royalties that you pay

If interested, register now here; attendance is limited so if you’re interested don’t wait! I’ll be attending (er, listening or whatever).

I gave another webinar on SoundExchange reporting under the CPB-SX agreement this past Monday to the Public Radio Program Directors Association (PRPD). It was the best attended webinar yet (80+ people) and lots of questions were asked and (hopefully) answered. Thanks to Arthur Cohen for setting it up, MCing it and also recording the event.

Here are my slides from the presentation.

You can downloaded the video of the recording right here (Windows Media file).

I also did another webinar for NPR stations yesterday, the third of three. Here are the slides from that webinar, which are almost identical to those used for PRPD. That webinar, unfortunately, was not recorded.

I’ll be doing one more of these introductory webinars (whew!) for IMA member stations next Tuesday, 7/28, at 3:00pm ET – then that’s it!

Last Friday an excellent webinar was hosted by our friends at the National Federation of Community Broadcasters (NFCB), for whom I gave a webinar on SoundExchange reporting at the end of June. Last Friday’s webinar was organized to answer to lingering legal questions about what can and can’t be streamed under the SoundExchange license, and also on what needs to be reported to SoundExchange via Public Interactive. The panelists were John Crigler and Melodie Virtue, two lawyers who were involved in crafting the agreement between the CPB and SoundExchange.

John and Melodie provided some excellent information on some of the legal issues around streaming music, and more details on the agreement between the CPB and SX. They were able to provide a lot of information that I can’t, not being a lawyer. It is recommended viewing for all stations. Pass the word.

You can download the entire video of the webinar here (Windows Media format).

It’s worth time to check it out.

I gave a webinar about SoundExchange reporting to NPR stations this past Tuesday, which was well attended. Many questions were asked and answered. Thanks to all who participated and my apologies to those whose questions I didn’t have time to get to.

The slides from my presentation can be viewed here.

Also, an important clarification has been made to an FAQ about how long a song recording can be played before it has to be reported. After further consultation with the legal eagles here is our official answer from the revised FAQs:

Q: Is there a threshold length for how long we can play a sound recording before we have to report it?

A: There is no simple threshold length to determine whether a song/recording needs to be reported. In short, all recordings play should be reported. However, there is an exception for performances that are brief AND incidental to the other program content. “Brief” means playing any one recording for less than 30 seconds (as long as it isn’t played in its entirety). “Incidental” is much more vague, but generally refers to musical transitions, performances during news, talk and sports programming and background performances. Again, both conditions must be met to meet the exception; simply playing less than 30 seconds of a recording is not enough; it has to also be incidental or secondary to the main program content. This leaves lots of room for grey areas. When in doubt, report it. For further clarification or questions, refer to your own legal counsel.

Last Friday I gave a webinar about SoundExchange reporting through Public Interactive to stations that belong to the National Federation of Community Broadcasters (NFCB). I did a presentation and then we opened things up for Q&A. I was helped out in answering questions by Jeff Luchsinger, Director of Radio Systems Investment at the CPB, who helped craft the agreement between the CPB and SoundExchange.

You can see the slides from that presentation here.

It was a well attended event that sparked lots of good questions. One, in particular, that came up was the following:

Do we need to report live performances, i.e. the artist is playing live in the station’s studio?

The answer here is that since the performance is going out live from your studio and IF you get a valid release from the performers there would be no performance or recording royalty to pay in that case. Again, that is assuming you get a valid release signed by the artist!

There were also questions related to reporting on songs that are in the public domain. There is a quite a bit of fuzziness here, because while a song may be in the public domain in terms of publishing royalties, the recording of it may not be (i.e. a recent recording of an old standard). The recommended approach is to report all music you play and let SoundExchange sort out who (er, whom?), if anybody, is due a royalty.

Finally, there were multiple questions about On Demand archives and whether they are covered by the CPB-SX agreement. The answer depends on the format of the offerings. Podcasts and downloadable archives are not covered. Neither are archives which, while not downloadable, are interactive, meaning the user can restart/rewind/pause/fast forward the archive. Truly streamed archives (played on a loop, non-interactive, non-downloadable) are covered.

This is just the first of a series of such webinars for various station groupings so we can begin to share information on what the agreement between the CPB and SoundExchange means for stations, what Public Interactive’s role in SoundExchange reporting will be and what the next steps are for stations. In July I’ll be doing a series of similar webinars for NPR stations. Keep you eyes peeled for invitations to these webinars or email me and I can forward them along to you.