Chancing the Occasional Licensed Track

THERE ARE SOME reasons that we occasionally chance our arm and play licensed music on some podcasts and the most compelling justification comes from some major labels agreeing to license months-long play of podcasts containing big name artists in deals negotiated with consumer purchases.

Rock River Communications has signed some of the first deals to license major-label content for their clients. Rock River specialises in making the mix CDs sold at the check-out counters of retailers like Gap Inc. and Williams-Sonoma Inc.'s Pottery Barn. They are creating a series of promotional podcasts on behalf of corporate clients including DaimlerChrysler AG and Ford Motor Co.

The Wall Street Journal reports "Chrysler and Ford pay Sony BMG Music Entertainment -- the joint venture of Sony Corp. and Germany's Bertelsmann AG -- a flat fee, which the companies decline to disclose, for the right to distribute the podcasts for a year, regardless of how many or how few copies are downloaded. Users can keep the programs on their personal computers or MP3 players indefinitely".

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Ethan Smith -- "Music Industry Changes Its Tune on Podcasting"
Podcasts with Irish accents sometimes offers just the music for lucky listeners.

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