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Changes to American copyright law as it relates to music licensing and sound recording is expected to have a significant impact on libraries and archives that preserve sound recordings.

That’s the consensus of a new report published by the National Recording Preservation Board of the Library of Congress. Back in 2018, Congress passed some of the most significant legislative reforms to American copyright law in the last 20 years in the form of the Orrin G. Hatch-Bob Goodlatte Music Modernization Act. According to the Library of Congress, the act fundamentally reshapes music licensing and the legal status of sound recordings made before 1972 by bringing these recordings under federal copyright law for the first time.

[Read: Glimpsing History Through New Digitized Radio Programs]

The law addresses music modernization in three sections: the Musical Works Modernization Act, the Classics Protection and Access Act, and the Allocation for Music Producers Act. The Library of Congress report — called the Orrin Hatch-Bob Goodlatte Music Modernization Act: A Guide for Sound Recordings Collectors” — offers clarification on each section of the law it as it applies to curators of recordings and provides a summary of the legislation and its implementation. “It will serve to guide holders of recordings in their efforts to preserve sound recordings and make them accessible through digital streaming,” the Library of Congress said in a release on May 27.

One of the most significant changes implemented by the act is the fact that recordings made before 1972 will now be under federal protection for the first time. The law also creates rolling terms of protection that enable historical recordings to enter the public domain beginning in 2022.

In addition, the law establishes new responsibilities for libraries, archives, museums and individuals who hold sound recording collections. In addition to creating a public domain for sound recordings, the law created new rights and procedures for institutions to obtain a license to stream holdings and revised the process of licensing music performed on recordings, often known as underlying works.

The new law attempts to provide uniform procedures to license recordings for streaming, which vary depending on the age and type of the recording. The act also establishes new requirements and processes in terms of streaming audio through an interactive service where listeners select content (as opposed to the preset content found on over the air radio for example).

The report also offers a series of tools and resources including guidance for owners of sound recordings who offer digital streaming services of their collection, information for streamers of educational audio programming, and an explanation of how the law impacts sections of copyright law applicable to libraries and archives.

The post Report Offers Guidance on Music Modernization Act appeared first on Radio World.

While much attention is focused on ATSC 3.0’s advanced emergency alerting capabilities like geo-targeting warnings and TV wakeup, retired Lt. Gen. Reynold Hoover illustrated precisely why the technology’s ability to disseminate information post-event may ultimately prove to be its most valuable quality in an emergency. He delivered his remarks on May 25 during the first day of the virtual 2021 AWARN Summit.

“Ladies and gentlemen, for the last 15 minutes we’ve actually been working a missile launch from North Korea,” Hoover said. “We detected a launch of a Hwasong-15, which is an ICBM. It has a max range, we estimate, of about 13,000 kilometers, which takes in the entire United States.”

“NORAD [North American Aerospace Defense Command] has assessed this launch as a threat to the United States. NorthCom [U.S. Northern Command] has launched our ground-based interceptors. We’re reporting flight as nominal. We estimate now impact in 14 minutes,” said Hoover, who among a long list of career accomplishments served as chief of staff at FEMA and integrated the agency into Homeland Security following the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks as well as being a driving force behind the adoption of IPAWS (the Integrated Public Alert & Warning System).

[Read: Rosenworcel Wants to “Revitalize” CSRIC]

Surprising Ron Prater, executive director of Big City Emergency Managers who moderated the session before the keynote, the lieutenant general said, “Ron, let me ask you, the mic’s going hot in 30 seconds. We have NORAD telling us 14 minutes to impact. What are you going to tell the public, and what do you want them to do?”

Clearly caught off guard, Prater said he is not an alert originator. “I would personally just panic, and then I would probably call Becky [Rebecca Baudendistel, director of public warning for the New York City Office of Emergency Management and a prior panelist] in New York City and ask her what to do.”

Hoover responded: “OK, Becca. Thirteen minutes to impact…. What are you going to tell people, and what do you want him to do?”

Taking a few seconds to digest the situation, Baudendistel replied: “I think, you know, the first thing is we need to do is address the problem as quickly as possible and put in a trusted source in that message to make sure they [the public] know[s] this is not just Becca saying this. This is coming from… the officials on this call.”

Hoover persisted in his description of the missile flight status. “Sure, sure. OK. So, NORAD now says impact is going to be on the West Coast, and impact is estimated at about 15 minutes.”

Shifting gears, Hoover recounted the Jan. 13, 2017, emergency warning issued in Hawaii that a missile strike was imminent. Public alerts explicitly stated the warning was not a drill and to seek shelter, he said.

“What do you think they [the public] did?” asked Hoover. In the 38 minutes it took the state to rescind the alert and issue a message telling people the emergency warning was false, many people panicked.

“There was chaos. People panicked in the streets. People said their last goodbyes. People, you know, went to get their kids. They were hiding in the bathrooms. They didn’t know what to do. They were searching for more answers.”

Going back to Baudendistel, Hoover resumed the description of the hypothetical missile attack. “Now NORAD advises that missile impact is imminent and most likely [will strike] Seattle, Wash. … Becca, is that going to change anything… [regarding] what you are going to tell people? Impact is imminent.”

Baudendistel replied: “I don’t think so. I’m not sure what else they can do at that point.”

Building on her observation, Hoover explained that in cases like the one in the roleplaying exercise, it is important to tell people what you want them to do, know who is going to communicate that message and how that message will be conveyed.

“And is that message going to cause more panic and harm than good?” he asked. “Certainly, we saw in Hawaii…panic, and we saw chaos. People didn’t know what to do.”

Continuing with the scenario, Hoover reported the missile struck Seattle, knocking out all communications and power in the area, collapsing bridges and highways, shutting down rail and auto traffic and causing general devastation.

“It seems to me that that is where ATSC 3.0 and that is where what we think of NextGen TV, and that is where what we think of IPAWS 2.0 … comes into play,” said Hoover.

“Because it’s post disaster in an event like that that is going to save more lives than the chaos we created [in Hawaii].”

Acknowledging the emergency management community wants to warn in advance of an event what and when it can, Hoover said in “a catastrophic, no-notice event,” it’s important to tell people exactly what to do, where to go and what steps they can take to save lives in its aftermath.

Hoover illustrated what he meant drawing on the work of Genie Chance, a journalist and radio broadcaster, during the 1964 Alaskan Earthquake.

Chance, who was running an errand with her son during the quake, drove to the public safety headquarters and using the VHF radio she had in her car began submitting reports to KENI radio.

“What does she say?” asked Hoover. “She says things like, ‘John Lawson, your family is at the Ross’s house, and they want you to know they’re safe, and they would like you to come there as soon as you can.’

“Things like, ‘The city manager is asking all department heads to report to him at the public safety building immediately.’

“Things like, ‘All engineers and pipefitters please report to the maintenance building in downtown Anchorage immediately.’”

IPAWS, ATSC 3.0 and other technologies need to be survivable “in any situation” to relay these sorts of critical messages following a catastrophe, he said.

“We are going to save more lives when we think about how we can apply ATSC 3.0 post-event than in some cases we might have saved pre-event with a warning that might cause chaos.”

“I would urge you, as you think about all of the great capabilities of NextGen TV and the broadcast capabilities that we have, we need to think how it’s going to survive post-blast or how it’s going to survive post-earthquake, … and we need to think about how that system is going to work in the future post-incident because that’s where I think… we’re going to end up saving lives,” he said.

The post Retired General Underscores Life-Saving Potential of ATSC 3.0 appeared first on Radio World.

Univision’s Uforia is bringing back its experiential virtual music series Uforia Live.

This year the Uforia Music Series in-person shows will include Livestreams.

“Music’s ability to bring us together has been one of the bright spots of the last year and our new digital reality has allowed us to explore new ways to experience awe-inspiring
performances,” said Jesus Lara, President of Radio at Univision. “As we mark the return of
Uforia Live, we are thrilled to partner with Rocket Mortgage to give Latin music fans more of the exclusive, live virtual concert experiences they have come to love and expect from Uforia,”

Uforia Live is an extension of Univision’s Uforia brand. Uforia also features an audio network of 58 O&O radio stations and 212 affiliates.

— Rob Dumke

A veteran technology executive and the CEO of global athletic apparel company Lululemon Athletica Inc. are the newest members of the Walt Disney Company Board of Directors.

BE SURE TO FOLLOW RBR+TVBR ON TWITTER!

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With the Memorial Day holiday weekend coming in hours, Miami-based Spanish Broadcasting System (SBS) early Friday released its first quarter 2021 results, ahead of an earnings call for analysts and investors in six days.

How did the multimedia company targeting U.S. Hispanics perform in the first three months of the year?

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By Rob Dumke

Charter Communications‘ Spectrum Community Investment Loan Fund has invested $1 million in the Carolina Small Business Development Fund (CSBDF).

The nonprofit certified community development financial institution (CDFI) will provide low-interest loans to small businesses in Charter’s North Carolina service area.

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In much of Connecticut, Rocker “I-95” is perhaps used more than the actual Interstate highway traversing the southern portion of the Constitution State. It’s a heritage station based in Danbury, and has a Country sibling that is today one-third of a Hudson Valley-focused Country station.

Both FMs have a new Market President and Chief Revenue Officer.

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Podcasting is definitely the audio flavor of the times.

And to take advantage of that a podcasting services provider, Podcastle, has added to its audio tool chest.

According to the company, clients can now edit audio, convert text into podcasts and create usable audio clips from video and other audio sources.

[Check Out More Products at Radio World’s Products Section]

Podcastle founder and CEO Artavazd Yeritsyan said, “Although many tools have come onto the market for photo and video editing, audio technologies have been less accessible. We believe that audio will continue to be one of the fastest-growing and influential categories in storytelling.” He added, “Our goal is to remove barriers so that people can focus on creating interesting content and not have to worry about complex or expensive software to do it.”

As a further demonstration of widespread interest in the podcasting sector, the company announced funding from venture capital firm Sierra Ventures last year.

Info: https://podcastle.ai

The post Podcastle Pushes New Tools appeared first on Radio World.

Audacy, the former Entercom, has announced some personnel changes in its San Francisco and Sacramento operations.

Current Audacy Sacramento Market Manager Stacey Kauffman will assume the role of regional vice president and market manager for Audacy Northern California. She will oversee KGMZ(AM), KLLC(HD2), KITS(FM), KLLC(FM), KCBS(AM), KRBQ9FM) and KGMZ(FM) in San Francisco.

[Visit Radio World’s People News Page]

She succeeds Greg Nemitz and will report to Regional President Doug Abernethy. Kauffman has been with Entercom/Audacy since 2015. She has also worked for Hubbard Broadcasting, Radio One and Susquehanna Radio.

Kauffman announced that Kieran Geffert has been promoted to vice president of sales for Sacramento and San Francisco. Geffert will handle sales throughout northern California. Geffert started with KCBS(AM) when it was part of CBS Radio.

Send your people news to radioworld@futurenet.com.

The post Audacy Announces Bay Area Promotions appeared first on Radio World.

Connected TV adoption has exploded. But how are advertisers fairing amid the transition from linear to what in the U.S. is called “CTV”?

That’s a question Innovid and Digiday believe they have the answer to, as it has released the results of a survey of 100+ brand marketers and agency execs’ thoughts on the state of Connected TV advertising.

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“There is no small irony in the observation that the deal to combine WarnerMedia and Discovery will, at least initially, have a far greater impact on linear TV than it will on streaming,” note Craig Moffett and Michael Nathanson of MoffettNathanson, the esteemed Wall Street analyst house. “Yes, the deal is ostensibly about assembling the right assets for a DTC future. But perhaps its most significant impact early on will be that it slows rather than hastens the pace of the transition.”

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Your RF site is more than a transmitter and a tower. It’s an entire ecosystem!

Radio World’s latest free ebook helps you to make sure it is running efficiently, safely and profitably.

Workbench legend John Bisset shares some of the best tips from years of helping readers maintain their sites. Paul Tinkle helps non-engineers understand what to watch for when they visit a site.

Peter Burk explains how a remote control system can help you improve routine maintenance and reduce emergency calls. Buc Fitch lays out a philosophy for clean reliable power.

Sean Edwards helps you identify trouble spots in your antenna system. Josh Bohn explores options for site connectivity.

The folks at Fluke list 10 dumb things people do when testing electricity. And award-winning engineer Jeff Welton opens up his famous bag of tips ‘n tricks!

Read it here.

The post Mission-Critical: Maintaining Your Transmitter Site appeared first on Radio World.

Newly released research finds that the total market value of digital content will grow by 105% over the next five years.

This value, says Juniper Research, takes into account pay-per-download revenue, in-app content spend, subscription revenue and ad spend over digital content.

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LISTEN. LEARN. PROFIT.

That’s the first thing you see when you visit Hala Taha‘s website.

Hala is the host of the Young and Profiting Podcast and the CEO of YAP Media. She started both brands as a side hustle, scaling to $1M in revenue and 30 employees before quitting her day job.

And, at the How to Make Real Money Podcasting virtual conference in July, Hala’s going to teach you how to turn your side hustle into a profitable business, too.

Hala has never been afraid to smash through the lanes and make her own path. She began her career in radio as an interim producer at WQHT-FM “Hot 97” in New York on The Angie Martinez Show, while pursuing a bachelor’s degree. Pouring her heart and soul into the success of the show, Hala decided to drop out of college and work full time for the radio station — for free.

After being rejected from her dream job at Hot 97 and later starring in an MTV reality show only to have the TV network pull the plug right before airing — Hala knew it was time to invest her time and talent in a brand she would own herself. She was tired of the gatekeepers telling her no.

She launched the Young and Profiting Podcast as a side hustle, to teach people how to be financially wise and have a more successful life. She grew to be one of the biggest influencers and podcasters on Linkedin. And then she decided she would scale and offer what she built for herself to others, and the social media and podcast agency YAP Media was born.

Today, Hala has graced the cover of Podcast Magazine and the Young and Profiting Podcast continuously ranks as a #1 Education podcast across all apps. YAP Media has several high-end clients and over 40 employees, around the world and will generate $2M in revenue in its first year.

When Radio Ink Editor Ed Ryan interviews Hala on July 15, she’ll share all of her secrets to success. What drives her? How did she turn her side hustle into a profitable business? She’ll explain how she thrived on rejection and used it as a stepping stone to success. And, she’ll tell you how you can make money podcasting.

A nice collection of comments on microphones in the May 26 issue! But I have a comment about the quote in the first piece that “No radio station ratings have ever been tied to the mic used in the studio.”

I wholeheartedly disagree. If you ask a listener, they’re not going to flat out tell you that they love a station’s compressor, particular jingle, studio, microphone or one particular recording. They only know what they hear, and it’s generally without being analytical.

Whatever that mystique is that makes one station sound better than another certainly contributes to why the station is a favorite.

Every element is a little percentage point towards making a station number one. And it’s like dominoes. You break the chain and the result will disproportionately affect the outcome.

[Visit the Reader’s Forum for More Letters and Comments]

As they say, “The chain is only as strong as the weakest link.” The secret of being a number one station is doing all those little percentages the right way; but with the microphone it’s a lot more than 1%. It’s the product that the listener hears upon which they make their preference judgments.

Comparing the quality of the air sound to the budget of whether you can use the microphone as a hammer and evaluating the choice of what to purchase is just plain outrageous.

I am often reminded of the quote by Ken Levine, a former DJ with us at a couple of L.A. stations and writer, director and producer of “M*A*S*H,” “Frasier” and “Cheers”: “Enough is a feast to an idiot.” And that’s exactly the mid ground “rollover and play dead” mentality of stations that just sound mediocre. It is super easy to beat them in the ratings because I maintain that the listener most certainly can tell the difference.

Of course personality factors into it as well, but put the same personality on a station that is superior in these other elements we are discussing, and it’s a slam dunk that they will have an edge. No details and listeners don’t really ever know why — except “It just sounds better.”

Comment on this or any article. Email radioworld@futurenet.com.

The post Yes, Mics Matter in Ratings appeared first on Radio World.