On Friday, August 21, a New York federal appeals court ruled that a webcasting services that let listeners create taste-customizable “radio stations” (like Pandora) don’t have to pay individual, per-song licensing fees to sound copyright holders (most often the labels).

The decision at the U.S. Second Circuit Court of Appeals makes a clear distinction between so-called “interactive services,” which let users choose what song is streamed “on-demand,” and the increasingly popular “predictive radio” stations like Pandora, which allow users to create and modify stations based on their tastes (and the recommendation engines of those services). Instead of licensing each song separately, non-interactive webcasters will pay a statutory licensing fee set by the Copyright Royalty Board. read more

On September 23, songwriters, publishers, record labels and digital music services announced they had reached an agreement on mechanical royalties for songs played on online music services.

Called a “breakthrough that will facilitate new ways to offer music to consumers online,” the voluntary agreement crafted by the Digital Media Association (DiMA), the National Music Publishers’ Association (NMPA), the RIAA, the Nashville Songwriters Association International (NSAI) and the Songwriters Guild of America (SGA) ended a longstanding dispute about mechanical royalties for interactive streaming and limited downloads. read more

Yahoo! to stop supporting Yahoo! Music after September 30
Starting Oct. 1, customers won’t be able to revive frozen tracks or move working ones onto new hard drives or computers, because Yahoo! won’t be providing any more keys to the songs’ DRM wrappers. Without the keys, the music is stuck. If a user’s computer goes on the fritz, say good-bye to Yahoo’s music. This situation epitomizes the problem we laid out in our last post about the Library of Congress.
Chris Gaither, LA Times read more

FCC Chairman plans to recommend censure against Comcast
Federal Communications Commission chairman Kevin Martin plans to recommend that the FCC issue a warning against the ISP for imposing "arbitrarily limits" on its subscribers. The recommendation, now circulating internally, would require various disclosure and procedural shifts without applying penalties.
Margaret Kane, News.com read more

Online radio sees rating spike, but conventional radio continues decline
A report by AccuStream iMedia Research indicates that users spent 4.85 billion hours listening to online radio last year. That’s up 26 percent from 2006. AOL’s Shoutcast dominated the market, with a share of nearly 50 percent. The industry as a whole was worth $92 million.
ZDNet, February 20, 2008 read more

The dearth of musical variety on the airwaves these days is much bemoaned and well documented. In 2002 an FMC study provided early evidence that the deregulation of the radio industry had resulted in less musical diversity among stations, a situation that hadn’t changed much by 2006. So it’s no wonder that frustrated music lovers are turning off their radios and plugging in their iPods, flipping to satellite radio or taking refuge in the blissfully eclectic world of webcasting. But don’t give up on old FM radio just yet. It could soon welcome a wave of sonic innovators. read more

Last week ATT admitted muting Pearl Jam’s political lyrics during its exclusive webcast of the band’s Lollapalooza show on Aug. 5. ATT rightly apologized, said the silencing was a mistake by a content monitor, and claimed that the company “does not censor or edit performances.” ATT spokeswoman Tiffany Nels also told the Los Angeles Times that it uses the content monitors to block “excessive profanity.” read more

DRM

Study: Consumers Prefer DRM-Free Tracks
A survey conducted by law firm Olswang Entertainment and Media Research of over 300,000 UK music fans reveals that DRM-free music is preferred by consumers, as well as a willingness to pay more for DRM-free tracks.
By Anthony Bruno, Billboard.biz, August 6, 2007 read more