Quite an interesting forum we had over at the good ‘ole Loyno tonight…my last, might I add. We had John Simson, head of SoundExchange, come speak to the music industry students about the controversy that has stemmed from SoundExchange’s attempt to distribute royalties to performers based on webradio spins. Strangely enough, the room did not burst into flames as we all suspected, and no, Mr. Simson did not grow little red horns out of his temples. Quite unexpectedly, Mr. Simson made some excellent observations about the state of the radio game and the PROs that should be shared with the big wide universe out there in cyberspace.
So check this one out: Mr. Simson has set up a system whereby “small webcasters” pay $500 for the year to operate their stations on the internet until 2010, at which point congress will re-address this whole “SoundExchange” issue. Companies such as Pandora, Live365, AOL, and Yahoo will be paying a substantially larger amount as their audience is much wider in scope than these “little guys.” So here’s where the confusion sets in.
I’m pretty sure that most people aren’t really aware of what SoundExchange is and why they are charging webcasters to begin with. SoundExchange is a not-for-profit…let me say that again, NOT-FOR-PROFIT company that distributes royalties to performers, back up singers, and musicians that appear on recordings played on webradio, satellite radio, and XM. This is THE ONLY company in America that attempts to pay the performers, as all the PRO’s such as ASCAP, BMI, and SESAC are established to pay the songwriter and copyright holder of the song. European countries have been doing this for years, so what gives?
Here’s the fun part. Essentially, terrestrial radio stations have flat out refused to pay the same rates to SoundExchange as the webcasters and satellite guys. In fact, terrestrial radio has refused to pay AT ALL on account that they have been grandfathered in the system. How can they do this, you ask? It’s really quite simple…because politicians and those lovely people that hang out in Washington count on radio for promotion and votes, there’s a huge elephant in the room. Nobody wants to say anything because everyone is concerned with saving their own skin. So while your average Joe running his internet radio station from his basement has to pay SoundExchange for his hundred listeners a day, Clear Channel doesn’t have to pay for their millions. As it usually does, this all comes down to politics.
So here’s my thought…this is America, people, and we claim to be on the forefront of pretty much everything. You are responsible for holding your politicians responsible for themselves. Write a letter, send an e-mail, shout it out on a rooftop…whatever it takes. And if you’re looking for some ugly figurehead to point the finger at for all this SoundExchange business, blame Clear Channel and all it’s nasty behemoth friends…you know you want to anyway. SoundExchange provides an invaluable service for the artist that, up until now, nobody else has even attempted. Once again, we find yet one more reason to hate the big guy, and I must say…it feels good.
Fortune Cookie:
If you are an artist, join SoundExchange, and do a little research on how this can benefit you as an artist. If you’re not an artist, but a caring citizen as you should be, write your local congressman about this issue and demand some action from the terrestrial radio stations.
Listening to:
“Go to Mexico” – Cassandra Wilson
