Podcasting is the creation of audio (or video) content
for download to a mobile device or computer for an audience to
listen to where and when they want to. According to Steve Porter,
MD of the MCPS-PRS Alliance, the medium has exploded into life over
the last six months.
“It has quickly moved from the efforts of a few hobbyists into
an accepted method of distributing content,” he said. “We are
introducing this licence as quickly as possible to enable music
podcasters to trade legitimately over the next year.”
The licence will allow podcasters to use the global repertoire
of musical works represented by the Alliance – some 10 million
musical works – by granting the necessary writer/publisher
permissions for inclusion of their works within the podcast.
The royalty rate for the 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.
Under the scheme, where podcasters do not use digital rights
management technology on their podcasts, they will have to comply
with certain conditions. In particular, the podcaster will be
required to:
- obscure at least 10 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.
Podcasters will also be obliged not to:
- 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.
The Alliance is also providing cover for podcasts that generate
low levels of revenue and usage, by incorporating the medium into
an update of its Limited Online Exploitation Licence (LOEL) – due
to be launched in the second quarter of 2006.
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.
The podcast licence is not the first of its kind. AIM, the UK’s
Association of Independent Music, launched a trial of its own
version of the licence back in December.
