Music News Bulletin: 24/10/08

Indies Point to Continued Barriers to Radio
"The American Association of Independent Music (A2IM) has conducted a study that looked into indie labels' feelings about radio and changes since a settlement brought an end to Elliot Spitzer's payola investigation. You can get get a PDF of the 17-page report here. I encourage you to read the executive summary after reading the rest of the report. The harsh tone of the summary -- the press release is more balanced -- is out of line with the limited and often benign information found in the report.

For example, 98.1% of respondents said their relationship with radio stations were the same or better than at the time of the settlement (which was only 18 months ago). When asked if stations' willingness to play indie label music had changed, 78.4% said there had been no change while 7.8% said it is now better and 13.7% said it was worse. That small 5.6-point difference between better and worse does not leave much open to interpretation or nuance." [Coolfer]

Indies beating credit crunch
"The Association of Independent Music annual members’ survey has shown indies are bearing up well in the credit crunch.
Chairman and chief executive Alison Wenham says that of around 300 companies, which responded, some 75% of them have reported increased turnover year-on-year despite the worsening economic conditions.
Further, Wenham says that a similar number expect that improved trend to continue in the next year. “This is some really good news in the current climate and shows our sector is bucking the trend and holding up well,” she adds." [MusicWeek]

OCC launches Coalition chart
"Alternative music tastes and the shape of independent retailing will become much clearer today (Monday) with the launch of the first Official Coalition Retail Charts.

The weekly charts count down singles and album sales and are compiled by the Official Charts Company from sales at the 26 independent record shops that form the Coalition. These include many of the UK’s most high-profile indie retailers, such as Edinburgh’s Avalanche Records, London’s Rough Trade and Manchester’s Piccadilly." [MusicWeek]


Can we really compete with free? ? A RATHER LENGTHY MUSICTANK THINK TANK ROUND UP
"The unnamed kid who took part in that previously reported 'kids and their music' survey for UK Music (then British Music Rights) and who admitted to having 72,000 illegally acquired music tracks on his hard disk became something of the star of last night's MusicTank debate on the state of the digital music sector. If the music industry is going to continue to sell recordings - and the latest four-talk Think Tank series from MusicTank is called 'Lets Sell Recorded Music', so that's the aim here - the question remains: what can you sell to a guy who's managed to acquire 72,000 songs, more than he could ever really listen to, without paying a penny?" [CMUDaily]

CD income slips into third place at MCPS-PRS
"Not much of a surprise really, but the MCPS-PRS Alliance has revealed that the wider songwriter community is set to make more from broadcast royalties and public performance royalties this year than from physical record sales. Alongside its third quarter financial report, the Alliance made projections for its full year revenues this year, predicting that money earned from radio and TV airplay and online streaming and downloads would bring in £173 million, while public performance royalties, from music played at gigs and in public spaces, would top £143 million.

By comparison, songwriter royalties paid on physical album sales are expected to slump from £152 million last year to £131 million this year. It will be the first time both broadcast and performance royalty income is higher than that generated by the mechanical royalties paid on physical record sales." [CMUDaily]

MCPS-PRS predicts physical slump
"The MCPS-PRS Alliance is predicting that 2008 will see songwriters earn less money from physical product than any other revenue stream. The collecting society today announced its third quarter results, as well as predictions for the full year 2008.
Revenue from physical product is expected to amount to £131m this year, behind broadcast and online (£173m), public performance (£143m) and international (£135m).

This shift is reflected to an extent in Q3 figures: physical product brought in £108m over the quarter, behind broadcast and online (£123m, up 20%) and public performance (£110m, up10%) but ahead of international (£94m).
The Alliance called the results “strong” despite the challenging market." [MusicWeek]

RIAA Wants Second Look At Mechanical Late Fees
"In a move to change issues related to the timing of late fees on mechanical payments - established by the U.S. Copyright Board in its Oct. 2 determination on royalty payments - the RIAA has filed a motion for the court to reconsider its decision to establish such penalties. As part of its Oct. 17 filing, it asked the court to hold its motion in abeyance for 20 days while it negotiates with copyright owners, like the National Music Publishers' Assn., the Songwriters Guild of America and the Nashville Songwriters Assn. International, and the Digital Media Assn.

The parties may be able to resolve issues related to the timing of the late fee through negotiation, the filing said. If the negotiations produce a settlement, the motion would be withdrawn; if not then the motion argues that late fees should be eliminated." [Billboard]

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