MCPS-PRS podcasting licence

3 March 2006

The MCPS-PRS Alliance has launched a
new licensing solution for music podcasters

The joint MCPS and PRS scheme allows podcasters access to the global repertoire of musical works represented by the Alliance – some ten million musical works – granting the necessary writer/publisher permissions for inclusion of their works within the podcast.
The licence is the first serious attempt by a European collecting society to support the growth of music podcasting.

Steve Porter, MCPS-PRS Alliance MD, said: ‘Podcasting has really exploded into life over the past six months. It has quickly moved from the efforts of a few hobbyists into an accepted method of distributing content. We are introducing this licence as quickly as possible to enable music podcasters to trade legitimately over the next year.’

The licence is being made available until the end of 2006, during which time both podcasters and the Alliance will learn more about each other’s needs. A more complete scheme is planned for launch in early 2007.

The royalty rate for the Alliance Music Podcast Scheme will be the greater of 12% of gross revenue or the minimum fee per track downloaded as part of the podcast: full-track 1.5p; half-track (less than 50% by duration) 0.75p.

A licence to cover the sound recording rights of independent record companies was also recently announced by AIM, the UK’s Association of Independent Music.

Alison Wenham, Chairman and Chief Executive of AIM, said: ‘We welcome this move by the Alliance, ensuring that podcasters are able to operate with ease and with legitimate licences in place. AIM's own trial licence has attracted great interest and with tracks from companies such as Beggars Group, Breastfed, Cherry Red, Jungle and V2, this should give plenty of choice to podcasters.’

Podcasts that generate low levels of revenue and usage are also catered for by the Alliance. Podcasting is being incorporated into the updated Limited Online Exploitation Licence (LOEL) being launched in the second quarter of 2006, where royalty rates begin from as little as £50 a quarter.

Non-music podcasts (e.g. predominantly speech with very little music) will be licensed under a new on-demand scheme for non-music services which is being prepared for launch at the end of April 2006.



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More details of the new Alliance Music Podcast Scheme attached.

CONTACT: Adrian Crookes 020 7306 4230 press@mcps-prs-alliance.co.uk



The MCPS-PRS Alliance
MCPS and PRS are the UK collecting societies that ensure composers, songwriters and publishers are paid royalties when their music is used: from live performance to TV and radio, CDs to DVDs, downloads, streams and everything in between. Royalties create a future for music by supporting creators while they continue to write. MCPS and PRS are committed to delivering maximum royalties and world-class service. They work together in an operational alliance to get the best value for the music use of composers and songwriters everywhere. The Alliance is committed to working with partners throughout Europe and the world to build new platforms that simplify the licensing music. www.mcps-prs-alliance.co.uk



MCPS-PRS Alliance Music Podcast Scheme rules
Licence: Joint MCPS/PRS

Services Licensed: Podcasts. MCPS/PRS definition: a podcast is a digital recording of an audio or audio-visual programme, made available on the Internet for downloading to a personal player. The components (e.g. tracks) of the programme appear in a fixed configuration and cannot be disaggregated. Most podcasts are permanent and do not have DRM protection.

Licensee: Music Service Provider. But note that in the case where iTunes is simply acting as a search engine for podcasts, we will not license iTunes, but instead will treat the podcast provider as the licensee.

Term: From March 1 2006 to 31 December 2006.

Non-precedential Fees: Greater of 12% of revenue or the minimum fee per track downloaded as part of the podcast.

In the absence of technical DRM being applied to the podcast, the MCPS-PRS Alliance requires the licensee to comply with the following conditions, designed to protect the value of the music contained in the podcast by limitimg the possibilities of disaggregation leading to the ripping of separate tracks.

Podcaster shall:

• obscure at least 10 (ten) seconds at the beginning and end of each individual track played in a podcast with speech or a station ID;
• deliver podcasts only in their entirety, not individual tracks or portions of a podcast;
• ensure that music constitutes no more than 80% of the total length of any Programme;
• ensure that the podcast is at least 15 minutes in length; and
• take all reasonable steps to ensure that individual tracks within a podcast are not capable of being ripped and that metadata or other information or data transmitted or downloaded by the podcaster is not used to identify recordings for download from unauthorised databases or sites.
  

Podcaster shall not:

• produce podcasts that contain recordings from a single artist or that have more than 30% of the musical works written by the same composer or writing partnership;
• play any individual track more than once in any single Programme;
• provide an electronic guide to the podcast which contains tracks played and corresponding times;
• insert any flags or other markers in the podcast which may directly indicate or which may be used to indirectly infer the start and end point of tracks or segments of copyright content;
• incorporate repertoire works into advertising; or
• use the Repertoire in such a way as may be taken to imply that any goods or services are endorsed, advertised or associated with the Repertoire or any artist whose performance is contained on the Repertoire or any other party who owns rights in connection with the Repertoire.
  

Exclusions: The Alliance Music Podcasting Licence will not cover the reproduction of repertoire or reference thereto which the Licensee ought reasonably consider to be derogatory of or demeaning or insulting to the composer(s) or author(s) or artist(s). If a repertoire work is used in such a way, such use shall be unlicensed under the terms of the Music Podcasting Licence and it may be subject to takedown.

Russia Refuses Licence Renewal

Christian radio in Russia may be a thing of the past if the Ministry of Culture and Mass Communications continues denying radio licences to Christian radio stations.

New Life Radio in Magadan applied for a license renewal in the autmn of 2005. New Life's Dan Johnson says they successfully completed the first stage of the approval process and sent the application to the deputy minister of the federal licensing department in Moscow for final approval.

According to Johnson, that's as far as it got. "It appears New Life Radio's paperwork remained on his desk unsigned for a long time, while the deputy minister continued to give approval and his signatures for other secular radio stations seeking license renewals. On March 23rd, New Life Radio was informed that the deputy minister refused to approve the license renewal due to late submission of documents."

According to Johnson, everyone involved in the case was shocked by the decision. "A denial based on this reason had never happened before and we feel the action is unprecedented and highly irregular, given the fact the New Life Radio complied and it even has correspondence from the ministry that can corroborate this fact."

Johnson says revoking a license is typically done by court action. He can only assume this is a religious freedom issue. "So, for us the bigger question is the Russian government's move against freedom of religion and freedom of the press. How does this come into play with the situation of New Life Radio, Russia's first Christian radio station being denied its license even though it had done nothing wrong to deserve the license denial."

New Life will be appealing this decision to the Ministry of Culture and Mass Communications to renew the license, and if the appeal is denied then they enter into some kind of legal proceedings against the deputy minister.

Johnson says there are only two Christian radio stations in Russia today. He says there's a reason for that. "No new Christian stations have started in Russia in the last five years," he says. "Many Christian applicants in cities across Russia have actually been denied the right to obtain radio frequencies. So, it's clear there is a bias that exists within the government against evangelical mission activities and in this case we're concerned that radio has simply been targeted and we fear for the future development of radio."

Web Links

New Life Radio

Premier takes The Knowledge

Premier Christian Radio, serving London and south-east England, has decided to spread the gospel across London by employing its own taxi.

The single hackney cab will tour central London with its radio constantly tuned in to Premier’s medium wave frequency of 1305 kHz.

A Christian has been selected to drive the cab, offer literature and answer questions about Christianity and the broadcasts.

The bright blue-and-green cab (Premier's colours) carries Premier’s frequencies and the ministry’s slogan.

“We love the cab,” said Muyiwa, a Premier presenter. “It’s proved popular with loads of different people from members of parliament to singers and musicians because it’s often around Westminster and central London. Who knows, perhaps we’ll see royalty in it one day.”

The station plans to launch competitions for listeners to spot the cab in London.

Presenter Rick Easter, who was responsible for the competition idea, added, “We thought it’d be a bit of fun to ask our listeners to spot the Premier taxi. We may only have one, but we’re very hard to miss!”

Web Links
Premier Christian Radio

Women's Focus in Middle East

Women in the Arab world are minimalised daily, their needs generally overlooked by the society they live in.

SAT-7, the Christian satellite television channel broadcasting to the Middle East, is now transmitting a full hour of new programming tailored just for them.

Programmes for this "Women’s Block", airing twice each day, are made by dedicated SAT-7 staff in studios in Egypt and Lebanon.

From these locations, the teams work hard at writing scripts, producing video reports, and creating shows that examine difficult issues confronting Arab women from a Christian point of view. Armed with the truth from this biblical worldview, it is possible to see a change in the families, too.

SAT-7 CEO Terry Ascott says,

"Families in this region especially face problems like poverty, illiteracy, migration, negative media influences, divorce and spousal abuse." The threat against the family also threatens, by extrapolation, the society, as a whole.

"SAT-7 invites all churches and Christian agencies and media in the Arab World to join the campaign by dedicating the year 2006 to be the Year of the Family."

The 2006 focus is aimed at strengthening families, building unity among churches, and drawing more people to Himself.

Web Links

• SAT 7

Radio Tea Party

A women's radio ministry is being likened to a 'tea party' on the air.

Trans World Radio's Ann White says Project Hannah offers a 30-minute program called 'Women of Hope'. The response has been encouraging, so much so, that they've expanded to reach more women.

She explains that, "They've launched the Women of Hope program in the language of Tamil, and then are launching in the language of Oriya, and are now producing in Indian English and Punjabi, so that they can reach a great number of the women speaking different languages on the subcontinent of India."

Women of Hope programs, airing over more than 300 stations, have touched the hearts of countless women, enabling them to find Christ and live daily for Him.

Prayer is the backbone of Project Hannah, mobilizing individuals, churches, and women's groups to participate in its Global Prayer Movement. Prayer partners intercede daily for the plight of women worldwide and for Project Hannah’s ministry teams across the globe.

White says theirs is a gentle approach to exposing these women to the hope of Christ in a hard world. "The basis of the program is to extend God's compassion first, but in the voice of compassionate women. It's not presented as a teaching or a preaching program. It's two or three women that are talking about the issue so that they (listeners) can hear their friends talking."

Web Links
Project Hanna

Satellite Evangelism

Christians on the European mainland are getting ready for one of the biggest evangelistic outreach programs on the continent.

ProChrist will be aired daily from Munich via satellite to 1,250 venues in 21 European countries during the period March 19-26.

The main speaker is Rev. Ulrich Parzany of Kassel, Germany, former general secretary of the German YMCA. He explained that while the cultural program will be more diverse this year, the spiritual message remains the same.

ProChrist has 56 venues in Hungary, 55 in Slovakia, 49 in the Czech Republic, 45 in Poland and 31 in Croatia. Churches in Slovenia, Portugal and the Netherlands are participating for the first time, and a total of 3,000 local churches are involved in the program.

Preparations for ProChrist started almost a year ago in Germany when 70 two-seater “Smart” cars displaying the ProChrist logo were sent out as “the smallest church on earth.” Each car was equipped with a Bible, a cross and a CD with hymns.

The vehicles were driven by Christian volunteers and traveled across Germany as drivers offered transport and talked to passengers. More than 60,000 conversations about the Christian faith were registered.

ProChrist started in 1993 in Essen, Germany, when Billy Graham was the main speaker.

Return to Africa

A man who came to the United States fleeing civil war violence in Liberia is going back to Africa to serve with HCJB World Radio.

Dennis Walker will serve as HCJB's associate regional director for Sub-Saharan Africa region. He was recently elected into the Who's Who Among Students in American Universities and Colleges for outstanding merit and accomplishment as a student at Trinity International University in Deerfield, Ill. He obtained his Ph.D. in education last May.

Now, his focus will be on Africa.

"Folks know HCJB only for radio. But, interestingly HCJB does mass media, and radio is a part of that, health care and education. So, I will primarily be involved in traveling around Africa in doing training."

That training will include radio church planting, planting FM or shortwave radio stations so that, "Unreached people groups, who have yet to hear the Gospel, would hear the Gospel through one of our partner radio stations. So, I'll be training radio practitioners, radio managers and radio programmers."

Walker's decision to return to Africa wasn't an easy one as he faced threats while serving at ELWA in his home country in Liberia. "I was at gunpoint several times and escaped death. You would think it's only rational for me to be in the U.S., escape death in Liberia during the civil war and say 'Wow, I've reached the promised land."

However, Walker says this is a calling. "God has called us to our people. And, we believe that we need to go back and help equip our people and empower them to do the ministry to which God has called them."

Two New Christian Radio Licence Awards

Ofcom, the United Kingdom communications regulator, has today (16th March 2006) announced the award of Community Radio Licences to two further Christian radio stations.

Hope FM

Contact: Blair Crawford
Bournemouth YMCA, Delta House, 56 Westover Road, Bournemouth, Dorset, BH1 2BS.
Tel: 01202 780396
email: bmouthymca@aol.com
websites: www.bournemouthymca.org.uk and www.hopefm.com

Hope FM is described as "a faith-based group, linked to the local YMCA, Hope FM will provide programming intended to be of interest to the Christian population and members of the wider community within the Bournemouth area."

Branch FM

Contact: Stephen Hodgson, 17 Halifax Road, Dewsbury, West Yorkshire, WF13 2JH.
Tel: 01924 454750
email: studio@branchfm.co.uk
website: www.branchfm.co.uk

Branch FM is described as "a Christian group which will provide programming intended to be relevant to members of its faith-based community of interest as well as members of the wider community in the town of Dewsbury."