BBC Launches Music Podcasts

The Guardian reports that the BBC will include 30 second music clips in their music podcasts from 12th November 2007.

From Saturday, November 17, the portfolio expands to offer podcasts including Folk & Acoustic with Mike Harding from Radio 2, Stuart Maconie's Freak Zone from 6 Music and the Asian Network Chart. 1Xtra has podcasts from a range of music genres including hip hop, dancehall and garage.
The BBC has done as much as Apple to establish podcasts within mainstream media in the UK, by promoting audio and video podcasts as part of a two year long "trial" which ended in July. Many podcast producers, including news publishers such The Guardian and the independent radio sector have voiced concerns that the state-sponsored media giant has distorted the podcasting world as it does radio and television.

It is not yet known what clearances are being used for music usage or what regimes will be applied in this still confused area of online rights and revenues. MCPS-PRS who collect royalties on behalf of writers and publishers issue a podcast licence, as do PPL (Phonographic Performance Limited) the UK broadcast royalties collection society representing many music labels; this year PPL introduced the use of 30 second clips for registered broadcasters. The BBC traditionally strikes its own deals with Performing Rights Organisations, often at rates well below those paid by smaller commercial corporations.

Cliff Richard In Your Podcast, Madam?

A long campaign by the British music industry to extend the copyright period in sound recordings from 50 to 70 years has been rejected by the UK Government after the House of Commons Culture Committee's previous recommendation to the contrary, which means that very soon, it will be legal to include hits from the late 1950s in podcasts without paying royalties.

"Under current rules, performers can earn royalties for 50 years from the end of the year when a sound recording was made. In comparison, novelists, playwrights and composers enjoy copyright protection for their life and 70 years afterwards. The copyright protection for performers in the United States is 95 years from release and in Australia it is 70 years. The industry had called on the British government to lobby the European Commission to extend the term to at least 70 years." - Reuters.

"The UK is a world-beating source of great music, so it is frustrating that on the issue of copyright term the government has shown scant respect for British artists and the UK recording industry," John Kennedy, head of the IFPI body which represents the international recording industry, said in a statement.

"Some of the greatest works of British music will soon be taken away from the artists who performed them and the companies that invested in them."

The BPI, body representing 70% of the UK record business, will now take the case to Europe.

Read the full text of the decision here, which includes recommendations for new media.