Money

A roundup of fiscal woes

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Yet again, much of this roundup of happenings in the world of classical (and jazz) radio relates to money — or a lack thereof.

:: The Canadian Broadcasting Corp. announced this week that it will cut 800 jobs to offset a $171 million budget shortfall. And it could cut even more jobs if the Canadian government rejects a CBC plan to sell $125 million in assets. The CBC’s television arm, which makes up 83 percent of the network’s budget for English-language programming, will see proportionally more cuts, but radio will also take its share. “Repeats will become more frequent to fill the void,” reports the Toronto Globe and Mail.

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Performance Rights Redux

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A blog post last week on the Future of Music Coalition site asks “which side are you on?” when it comes to the Public Performance Rights “Tax.”

There are plenty of places you can read about the issue if you Google around and follow links.  There are lots of opinions out there.  I’m a member of AFTRA, and my union supports the tax.  I work with a lot of radio stations, and most of them don’t.

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Mona’s AMPPR takeaway

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Part 2 of 3 — By Mona Seghatoleslami, West Virginia Public Broadcasting

Spring is in the air, and spring fund drives are on the air on public radio stations around the country. Stations that align their drives with nationally coordinated dates will be starting this Friday (March 28), while others have worked out their own schedules that fall close to these dates.

The Association of Music Personnel in Public Radio conference a few weeks ago dedicated an entire day to topics in fundraising, including how to fundraise in a troubled economy. Here’s a summary of what was discussed in those sessions, along with some of what I plan to do with what I learned.

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WCLV Leading the Charge Against Onerous Royalty Payments

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When people buy CDs, the record companies and the licensing companies are supposed to pay royalties to the artists.  In addition, radio stations pay blanket license fees to BMI, ASCAP, and SESAC to air CDs, money that is supposed to end up in the  artists’ pockets.  But now, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA)  is trying to levy a new performance tax on radio stations, and Congress is currently debating the issue.  WCLV in Cleveland is asking its listeners to write to their members of Congress.

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