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The Mobile Marketing Association (MMA) and the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) have unveiled the Mobile Phone Creative Guidelines for public comment.

Recently released guidelines look to help better define and unify current market definitions of accepted ad units. MMA and IAB officials say the guidelines will make mobile ad buying and selling a more effective process. The new guidelines will supplement the currently adopted measure of the Universal Mobile Ad Package 

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Lunch and learn with the Centro Dallas team!

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Greetings All! 2012 was a year that brought lots of exciting changes in the digital audio arena – we saw many new entrants to the space ranging from integration into new devices like Xbox Music to the revamping of early entrants like Myspace.  There was a keen focus on business models along with legislative accompaniment in the form of the IRFA and along the way we also developed a deeper understanding of consumer behavior -- from which devices are gaining in popularity for listening, to digital audio listeners’ attitudes towards advertising, to the first ever multicultural digital audio insights.  We anticipate much more such activity 2013!  We ourselves continue to expand our partnerships, most recently with AdsWizz, and to grow our network and our offerings for advertisers.  We look forward to sharing our ongoing journey with you as this marketplace continues to evolve.  If the excitement around digital audio at CES is any indication, 2013 is going to be a great ride! All the best for a happy and healthy 2013. Be heard! Eyal

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The most popular music apps on Facebook and the trends we see vs. the last time this survey was conducted 

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Mobile device owners are spending more and more time on those devices using free apps and exploring gaming

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It's not dead, it's just sleeping.

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TargetSpot & the Pfizer team from Carat do an end-of-year dinner at Barbuto, with special guest Jonathan Waxman! 

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Compared to terrestrial radio, by far the most popular music format, new streaming services pay out a much higher rate on a per-listener basis to record labels, according to calculations by David Touve of Washington and Lee University. According to his  calculations, the per-listener value of a spin in the UK is $0.00012 --  just 1/36th a typical per-listen value ($0.0042) paid by Spotify, 1/10th the rate ($0.0011) paid by pure-play webcasters such as Pandora in the US and 1/18th the CRB-established webcaster rate ($0.0021) i n the US. 

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The evolution of headphones

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A lot has happened since we last connected, an epic hurricane, a historic election an unwanted nor’easter…Hurricane Sandy presented unprecedented challenges for our friends and colleagues and it is our sincerest hope that this note finds you well and surrounded by the things we once again realize matter most.  With so much else going on, it is hard to believe that Election Day was a mere 3 weeks ago.  In addition to upping the digital ante in terms of both advertising and election night reporting, this year’s races further revealed great insights about the impact of the demographic changes the country has experienced in the last decade, once again highlighting the importance of the Hispanic population. In the spirit of returning to normalcy, we have been keeping quite busy here at TargetSpot.  We participated in IAB Digital Audio Day in Chicago, Digital Hollywood in New York and hosted a panel during Advertising Week, which included friends from Spotify, Pandora, Univision, Shazam, and Mashable.  Our panel focused on the intersection of Internet Radio and social media and discussed how to best speak to consumers while they are speaking with their circle of influence.  We also recently released the first ever industry research on attitudes towards Digital Audio advertising.  Our latest whitepaper reveals new insights about what drives response and engagement among Digital Audio listeners, and further illustrates the effectiveness of the platform for connecting with consumers.  Please click here for a copy of the whitepaper outlining these findings.    Best wishes for a happy, healthy and safe holiday season.

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Senate to Address the Internet Radio Fairness Act

Original Story

The Internet Radio Fairness Act (H.R. 6480 and S. 3609) (IRFA) addresses the allegedly discriminatory provisions for setting royalty rates for Internet music broadcasters in comparison to satellite or cable music broadcasters. Internet music broadcasters currently pay five times the amount of royalties – as a percentage of revenue – as other digital music broadcasters like satellite and cable.

IRFA would likely result in decreased royalty rates for Internet music broadcasters, such as Pandora, to put them on par with other music broadcasters, such as SiriusXM satellite radio. IRFA has met with opposition from those who obtain income from royalties for streamed copyrighted music, such as musicians and record labels, in addition to some government watchdog groups.

Current Royalty Scheme

The royalty rates prescribed for Internet music broadcasters are established based on what a panel of special copyright judges, the Copyright Royalty Board (CRB), determines to be the market rate for musical licenses. Unfortunately, the process of setting royalty rates for copyrighted music streamed over the Internet is difficult because there is “no functioning market for these licenses and these judges are left with very little information to make reasonable conclusions.”

In contrast, cable and satellite music broadcasters pay royalty rates based on a “long-established method” that consists of a broad set of factors considered by the CRB. The result of the different analysis used for setting royalty rates is a discrepancy in royalty rates paid by different types of music broadcasters. In 2011, the Internet radio broadcaster Pandora paidover 50 percent of its revenues in performance royalties while SiriusXM satellite radio paid eight percent. Cable music broadcasters pay 15 percent under the current regulatory regime.

Support for IRFA

Senator Wyden, who introduced IRFA, asserts that it will “remove the barriers to innovation in digital broadcasting, enable new webcasters to start up and create jobs and increase competition in the music marketplace” while also expanding the digital market so that artists get more compensation for their music. Pandora, the most prominent Internet music broadcaster,argues that these changes will have a positive effect on musicians:

“Internet radio brings millions of listeners back to music, plays the songs of tens of thousands of promising working artists, enabling them to build their audience while receiving fair compensation.”

Opposition to IRFA

In an open letter published in Billboard, 127 musicians across the spectrum of musical genres argued against IRFA, stating that IRFA would “gut the royalties that thousands of musicians rely upon.”

IRFA has also been opposed on the grounds that the current market rate analysis for Internet music broadcasters is actually the best standard to use for all digital music broadcasters. The Council for Citizens Against Government Waste, a government watchdog group, argued that IRFA would bring Internet music broadcasters under an outdated standard developed in the 1970s, referring to the CRB standard for setting royalties for satellite music broadcasters SiriusXM and Musak, and cable music broadcasters like Music Choice:

“The result is to move nearly 1,800 entities that currently operate under the market-based standard down to the below-market standard, instead of moving the three grandfathered entities up to the market-based standard.”

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61% of Ecommerce Shoppers Are Willing to Trade Privacy for Targeted Personalized Experiences

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TargetSpot, the largest Digital Audio advertising network, appointed Mitch Kline as its new Vice President of Radio Sales on 10/15. Mitch brings to TargetSpot over 25 years of ad sales experience, most recently serving as EVP/DOS for Univision Radio. RBR-TVBR spoke to Kline recently about the business of audio ad insertion and how it’s sold:

[See Part I here]

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TargetSpot, the largest Digital Audio advertising network, appointed Mitch Kline as its new Vice President of Radio Sales on 10/15. Mitch brings to TargetSpot over 25 years of ad sales experience, most recently serving as EVP/DOS for Univision Radio. RBR-TVBR spoke to Kline recently about the business of audio ad insertion:

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Almost 50% of the US population listened to Digital Audio in the last 3 months per the latest NPD Group study.  

37% listened to Internet Radio services, and 36% listened to on-demand music services

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