Monthly Archives: March 2007
More on Internet Radio from SXSW
Here at SXSW, there’s much interesting discussion on the current rate increase for internet broadcasters that will see SomaFM’s rates (for example) rise from about $20,000 to over $600,000 for 2006, and will top 4 million in 2007.
So how did we get here?
The new rate increase is based on a “willing buyer/willing seller” strategy, where the royalty rate is set on what a willing buyer and seller would both hypothetically agree to in an open marketplace. There are many issues with such a scheme, but the best came up in a discussion with Rusty Hodge, founder of SomaFM.
His (tongue in cheek) point of view was since labels (rights holders) have been convicted of massive payola scandals in recent years, where the labels pay radio stations millions of dollars to hammer out a song until it’s a hit, the “willing buyer/willing seller” have in essence reached a negative price. Payola, shows that the major labels are willing to pay massive amounts of money in exchange for air time, and therefore, the rights holder should be paying internet broadcasters to *play* their music, rather then the other way around.
He was mostly joking, but I think it’s an interesting point.
More from SXSW to follow.
Internet radio threatened
This is ridiculous. Basically the Copyright Royalty Board has accepted a new licensing fee structure set out by SoundExchange (read: the RIAA) and is now going to require online radio stations (or anyone who streams music) to pay new licensing fees that are in many cases greater then the profits the radio stations generate. Nice eh? Read this and this for more background, and then go sign the petition.
Big changes
Big changes are afoot!
The biggest news, is that after much soul searching and thought, I have decided to leave my happy home at Bryght and set out on my own. That’s right… I’m going freelance! The goal is to spend around half my time working on some exciting music related client projects, and then build out a few ideas of my own in my spare time. I’m *very* excited at promise the coming months hold, but at the same time, it’s hard to be leaving my good friends and colleagues at Bryght. But I have a pretty good feeling that they’ll continue to kick ass with, or without me…
I’m no stranger to the freelance lifestyle (having done it for years before joining Bryght) but this time, I’m going to be doing things a bit different. For one, I have taken a desk at the very cool Co-Working space Citizen Space, and I will be writing more about my enjoyable experiences working in this new environment.
In short, I’m totally stoked to have some time to devote to my own projects, and wish everyone at Bryght the best of luck in the future.
So… Game on!