House Passes Digital Music Licensing Package

This was posted today in Radio World:

Bills head to Senate accompanied by applause from stakeholders

The House has unanimously passed the Music Modernization Act, a compromise bill that creates a framework for better compensating artists for digital plays of their music and making it easier for music rights organizations to collect those fees from distributors of streamed music like Pandora and Spotify, as they do from traditional plays on TV and radio.

The bill has been billed as the most significant change in music licensing laws in decades, and drew praise from a chorus of stakeholders. It now heads to the Senate, where it is also expected to pass.

It actually incorporates a trio of bills. The base Modernization Act creates a single licensing entity for reproduction rights for digital uses, like those of Spotify, Pandora, Google, Apple and Amazon. It also randomly assigns judges to preside over ASCAP and BMI rate-setting cases, according to the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).

The package also includes The CLASSICS (Compensating Legacy Artists for their Songs, Service, and Important Contributions to Society) Act which compensates artists for pre-1972 recordings, which had previously not been eligible for digital royalties.

You can read the entire article here

It should be interesting to see the impact this has on availability of songs and costs of streaming services over time.

Robert Gulley, AK3Q, is the author of this post and a regular contributor to the SWLing Post. Robert also blogs at All Things Radio.

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New Jersey FM Pirate fined $25,000

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Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, @UlisK3LU, who notes that New Jersey pirate radio station operator, Winston Tulloch (KC2ALN), has been fined $25,000 for operating an unlicensed station on 90.9 MHz FM. According to the FCC, the hefty penalty comes after after multiple requests to halt broadcasting starting in February 2015. The station was finally taken off the air in September 2017.

Click here to read the full FCC Notice of Apparent Liability for Forfeiture (PDF).

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Video: Homebrew AM Loop Antenna Project by Thomas Cholakov (N1SPY)

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Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Thomas Cholakov (N1SPY), who shares his latest video explaining the operation of a simple homebrew AM loop antenna:

Click here to view on YouTube.

Brilliant video, Thomas! I love the fact you included a demonstration with your SDRplay RSP1A as well. Via the spectrum display, it’s easy to see the the loop’s bandwidth and also the gain it provides when tuned to a station.

I love your AM loop antenna as well–such a simple design and ideal for demonstrating the mechanics of a passive loop antenna since all of the components are visible. I’m willing to bet you built this antenna for less than $10. Smart design as it’s both portable and effective! Keep up the excellent work, Thomas! We look forward to all of your future videos.

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FTIOM & UBMP, April 29-May 5

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From the Isle of Music, April 29-May 5:
International Jazz Day is April 30, and this year the official concert site is St. Petersburg, Russia, but in 2017, Havana was the official concert site, and this week we listen to some of that 2017 concert.
Four opportunities to listen on shortwave:
1. For Eastern Europe but audible well beyond the target area in most of the Eastern Hemisphere (including parts of East Asia and Oceania) with 100Kw, Sunday 1500-1600 UTC on SpaceLine, 9400 KHz, from Kostinbrod, Bulgaria (1800-1900 MSK)
2. For the Americas and parts of Europe, Tuesday 0000-0100 UTC on WBCQ, 7490 KHz from Monticello, ME, USA (Monday 8-9PM EST in the US). This has been audible in parts of NW, Central and Southern Europe with an excellent skip to Italy recently.
3 & 4. For Europe and sometimes beyond, Tuesday 1900-2000 UTC and Saturday 1200-1300 UTC on Channel 292, 6070 KHz from Rohrbach, Germany.

Uncle Bill’s Melting Pot, Sun, April 29 and Tues, May 1:
What better way to celebrate the addition of Channel 292 to the UBMP family than with Colombian big band dance music?
Thanks to a recent trip to Colombia, we will be featuring some of the best of it in Episode 60.
1. Sundays 2200-2230 UTC (6:00PM -6:30PM Eastern US) on
WBCQ The Planet 7490 KHz shortwave from the US to the Americas and parts of Europe
2. Tuesdays 2000-2030 UTC on Channel 292, 6070 KHz from Rohrbach, Germany for Europe. If current propagation conditions hold, the broadcast should reach from Iceland to Western Russia, Scandinavia down to the Middle East, AND a long bounce to parts of New Zealand.

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Final edition of Media Network Plus will air April 28, 2018

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(Source: Keith Perron at PCJ Media)

After more than 500 shows. The final edition of Media Network Plus will air April 28, 2018.

While Media Network Plus is coming to an end this weekend. MNP will be retooled and will be returning as a 6 part television series.

I will be remaining as executive producer, but each program will have a different host. The new documentary format will be 25 minutes in length and will focus on one issue per program.

The first six programs are currently in production and will include the following topics.

Program 1 – With Chinese president Xi Jingping changing the constitution so he can remain in power for as long as he wants. What is this going to mean for the Chinese media of the future.

Program 2 – With the crisis with the Rohingya people on going. We will be examining the media’s role.

Program 3 – Robert Mugabe may no longer be the President of Zimbabwe. What will this mean for the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corp. and independent media in the country.

Program 4 – A special program from Pyongyang, North Korea. With a visit to Voice of Korea. The first ever foreign TV crew allowed to visit the station.

Program 5 – Will look at how countries in East and Southeast Asia are trying to combat misleading news and information.

Program 6 – Pan-Pacific Special. This program will look at the changing media landscape across the Pacific and how new media has been a driving force in the changes to society across the region.

Air dates TBA