 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Forums - Music tracks & feedback
Subject: New web radio protectionism
Viewing all 1 messages - View by pages of 10: 1
Original Message 1/1 05-May-06 @ 10:09 AM - New web radio protectionism
article from The Radio Magazine #730 - 5 Apr 2006:
-----
Protectionism threatens internet radio
The implementation of measures to protect existing UK
commercial radio stations from online competitors
could threaten the future of the fledgling internet
radio industry. On the same day last week that the
Commercial Radio Companies Association [CRCA] signed a
new agreement with Phonographic Performance Limited
[PPL] that allows UK commercial radio stations to
continue using recorded music in their output from 1
April, it emerged that PPL will start contacting
overseas internet radio stations to request payment
for a licence to allow them to be listened to in the
UK. Speaking at a seminar organised last week by
industry organisation MusicTank, PPL director of
licensing Tony Clark explained: “The obligation for
overseas radio stations that stream into the UK goes
back theoretically to when they started. We have
started conversations with the biggest streamers to
the UK to pay for the past and to pay going forward.
We are going to start with the biggest people. It’s
always going to be difficult to police that. The
obligation for them to be licensed and pay is the same
as any station based here. We do act and we will
certainly start with the biggest ones.” Geoff Taylor,
executive vice president of the International
Federation of the Phonograph Industries [the
association of record companies], added: “We’ve tried
to make it easier [for internet stations] to get
international licences. IFPI has developed reciprocal
licences between collection agencies. You have to make
it easy for people to get licences, and then those
people who are not prepared to pay will be closed
down.”
A reciprocal clause contained in the new PPL/CRCA
contract requires that, from 1 April, UK commercial
stations’ online simulcast streams must no longer be
made available to overseas listeners. Stations that
still want to be heard in, for example, the US will
have to negotiate their own contract with the relevant
American royalty collection organisations. Victoria
Cooper of the CRCA explained: “Those [UK radio
stations] who do not wish to pay to be heard outside
the UK will need to put measures in place to ensure
that their internet streams cannot be accessed by
overseas listeners.” Ian James, director of emerging
channels at Chrysalis Radio, commented: "This is a
fundamental change in the way UK radio stations can
work for overseas listeners. Control of access by
geographic regions is now an essential part of online
radio delivery." Stations will be required to install
geo-locking software on their streaming audio servers
that can identify the geographic location of a
potential listener from their Internet Protocol
address before allowing them access to a radio stream.
The new PPL contract provides existing UK commercial
radio stations with beneficial terms for simulcast
streaming, based upon their stations’ net broadcast
revenues from both analogue and digital sources. This
has raised protests from independent UK-based
internet-only stations, which are subject to an
entirely different pricing regime for their PPL
licences. The cost of the PPL Webcasting Licence is
based not upon the revenues of a particular internet
station, which are still low in this nascent industry,
but upon the amount of listening the station receives,
charged at a rate of 0.0503 pence per song heard. As
an example, even a small internet music station
playing 14 songs per hour could easily attract 20,000
hours listened per month. This would cost the station
£162 per month (including an additional 15% PPL
premium levied for “dubbing rights”), despite the fact
that the station’s audio streaming server costs could
be less than £15 per month to achieve these levels of
listening. On this basis, the PPL licence alone will
cost an internet station £8 per 1000 hours listened,
whereas the UK commercial radio as a whole only
achieves £25 revenue per 1000 hours listened, of which
it pays about £2.50 in total to PPL and the other
royalty agencies PRS and MCPS for its use of music.
Internet station owners argue that the PPL terms
offered to them will ruin their entire business model,
even without adding the additional royalties due to
the other two agencies, because revenues from internet
radio are still only a fraction of that achieved by
analogue stations.
If the PPL and IFPI go ahead with their threat to
prevent unlicensed foreign internet stations from
being heard in the UK, it would become the only
country other than China where citizens are prevented
from accessing certain overseas media sources.
-----
Protectionism threatens internet radio
The implementation of measures to protect existing UK
commercial radio stations from online competitors
could threaten the future of the fledgling internet
radio industry. On the same day last week that the
Commercial Radio Companies Association [CRCA] signed a
new agreement with Phonographic Performance Limited
[PPL] that allows UK commercial radio stations to
continue using recorded music in their output from 1
April, it emerged that PPL will start contacting
overseas internet radio stations to request payment
for a licence to allow them to be listened to in the
UK. Speaking at a seminar organised last week by
industry organisation MusicTank, PPL director of
licensing Tony Clark explained: “The obligation for
overseas radio stations that stream into the UK goes
back theoretically to when they started. We have
started conversations with the biggest streamers to
the UK to pay for the past and to pay going forward.
We are going to start with the biggest people. It’s
always going to be difficult to police that. The
obligation for them to be licensed and pay is the same
as any station based here. We do act and we will
certainly start with the biggest ones.” Geoff Taylor,
executive vice president of the International
Federation of the Phonograph Industries [the
association of record companies], added: “We’ve tried
to make it easier [for internet stations] to get
international licences. IFPI has developed reciprocal
licences between collection agencies. You have to make
it easy for people to get licences, and then those
people who are not prepared to pay will be closed
down.”
A reciprocal clause contained in the new PPL/CRCA
contract requires that, from 1 April, UK commercial
stations’ online simulcast streams must no longer be
made available to overseas listeners. Stations that
still want to be heard in, for example, the US will
have to negotiate their own contract with the relevant
American royalty collection organisations. Victoria
Cooper of the CRCA explained: “Those [UK radio
stations] who do not wish to pay to be heard outside
the UK will need to put measures in place to ensure
that their internet streams cannot be accessed by
overseas listeners.” Ian James, director of emerging
channels at Chrysalis Radio, commented: "This is a
fundamental change in the way UK radio stations can
work for overseas listeners. Control of access by
geographic regions is now an essential part of online
radio delivery." Stations will be required to install
geo-locking software on their streaming audio servers
that can identify the geographic location of a
potential listener from their Internet Protocol
address before allowing them access to a radio stream.
The new PPL contract provides existing UK commercial
radio stations with beneficial terms for simulcast
streaming, based upon their stations’ net broadcast
revenues from both analogue and digital sources. This
has raised protests from independent UK-based
internet-only stations, which are subject to an
entirely different pricing regime for their PPL
licences. The cost of the PPL Webcasting Licence is
based not upon the revenues of a particular internet
station, which are still low in this nascent industry,
but upon the amount of listening the station receives,
charged at a rate of 0.0503 pence per song heard. As
an example, even a small internet music station
playing 14 songs per hour could easily attract 20,000
hours listened per month. This would cost the station
£162 per month (including an additional 15% PPL
premium levied for “dubbing rights”), despite the fact
that the station’s audio streaming server costs could
be less than £15 per month to achieve these levels of
listening. On this basis, the PPL licence alone will
cost an internet station £8 per 1000 hours listened,
whereas the UK commercial radio as a whole only
achieves £25 revenue per 1000 hours listened, of which
it pays about £2.50 in total to PPL and the other
royalty agencies PRS and MCPS for its use of music.
Internet station owners argue that the PPL terms
offered to them will ruin their entire business model,
even without adding the additional royalties due to
the other two agencies, because revenues from internet
radio are still only a fraction of that achieved by
analogue stations.
If the PPL and IFPI go ahead with their threat to
prevent unlicensed foreign internet stations from
being heard in the UK, it would become the only
country other than China where citizens are prevented
from accessing certain overseas media sources.
___________________________________
I had an idea for a script once. It's basically Jaws except when the guys in the boat are going after Jaws, they look around and there's an even bigger Jaws. The guys have to team up with Jaws to get Bigger Jaws.... I call it... Big Jaws!!!
Viewing all 1 messages - View by pages of 10: 1
There are 1 total messages for this topic
Reply to Thread
You need to register/login to use the forum.
Click here to Signup or Login !
[you'll be brought right back to this point after signing up]
Back to Forum
