Finding the Middle Ground
Posted in Music Tech on July 7th, 2009 by RyanThe numbers seem to add up now for major labels and online radio broadcasters. What seems most significant is that there are tiers to the payment structure, which means that smaller stations don’t face as large of an obstacle to their continued broadcasting. However, the minimum $25,000 payment per year is still a huge chunk of change for small broadcasters.
However, it also means that labels and artists will see royalty payments from these spins, even if they filter through SoundExchange first. It looks initially like everybody has a stake in keeping online radio services like Pandora and Last.fm up and running, and everybody gets something out of it. How this plays out in reality is still up in the air – do independent artists get the same cut? Will they have the same advocacy as larger artists in getting their fair share? The door is at least open, but everybody has to go through.
