(August, 7th 2007, Camas, Washington)
With the Copyright Royalty Board (CRB) decision is still in limbo there are many questions about the future of streaming radio online. One of them focuses on the CRBs new reporting requirements on a per performance basis. The actual requirements are still somewhat vague however the following is from the SoundExchange website…
“The information music services are required to report is as follows:

• name of the service making transmissions
• identification of the transmission category from one of eleven choices
• name of the featured artist
• sound recording title
• album title and marketing label OR International Standard Recording Code ("ISRC")
• Aggregate tuning hours, channel or program name, and play frequency OR actual total performances.

These reports of use must be in a standardized, electronic format (ASCII), and may be delivered to SoundExchange via electronic mail (e-mail), File Transfer Protocol (FTP), ... Hard copy reports of use are not permitted.”

This new reporting requirement for online radio causes content producers, webcasters and radio stations that simulcast online significant workload just to meet compliance. This increased workload and reporting requirement adds a huge burden to these groups in addition to the extremely controversial proposed rate changes.

Abacast Inc. www.abacast.com, a specialist in streaming online radio for 7 years, has a history of creating innovative products to help online radio reduce costs, increase revenues, and increase quality. Abacast is once again trying to anticipate the needs of the future of radio online by creating a new tool for broadcasters to automate performance reporting.

The Performance Reporting Tool combines nowplaying information, with real-time statistics and additional performance details to create real-time reports that will meet and exceed the SoundExchange guidelines with almost no additional work for the broadcaster. The reports are accessed through a web portal and can be easily run for any date range. The report data is ready in real-time so there is no need to wait around for your results. Further, these real-time reports can be used for instant analysis of liabilities, forecasting and budgeting. Alerts can also be sent to the broadcaster based on certain thresholds to keep the broadcaster informed if the audience changes.
The reporting is all done automatically providing a labor-saving alternative to any other performance reporting alternatives. The reporting tool can be used by any webcaster or broadcaster regardless of the Content Delivery Service (CDN) they use. The reports are only made available to the webcasters or broadcasters for their own uses. Abacast will not distribute or use the report information for any other purposes.

Abacast is inviting webcasters and broadcaster to sign up now for this new service so that they can be prepared and informed about how many performances they are currently playing and how the CRB decision may impact their futures. They are also running an introductory special for those customers who sign-up before the end of September. Please visit www.abacast.com to find out more.

Abacast Inc is a streaming technology and services provider founded in 2000 by former broadcasters, technologists and station owners who saw the future of radio and television coming online. Abacast Distributed Streaming Technology is the cornerstone of a complete service offering that includes live and on-demand streaming of all major formats, unique ad-injection/replacement technology, gateway ad serving, easy and efficient enterprise streaming, complete subscription systems, podcasting, high-end audio processing/streaming PC cards, audio and video encoding software, custom media player/web design and 24/7 premium service, education and support. Find out more at www.abacast.com or info@abacast.com.