Getting in touch with the right people at a label

[Sunhillow]

Since the start of Progstreaming I've experienced the troubles of getting in touch with the right people in order to get the permission to stream a certain release.

A few examples:

* The Dutch division of InsideOut is done by two different companies, and I'm in contact with three different persons. But they often say 'no'.
* EMI was recently sold to Warner, and EMI used to say 'yes' often to short streams, but Warner say 'no', mainly because a certain release is also on the Luisterpaal (which is a merely Dutch site, for crying out loud).
* I often e-mail a band for a request to stream, only to find out (too late) the band is associated with a label that opposes streaming in general. That often lead to misunderstanding, for 95% of the artists give permission to stream, yet only 60% of the labels. So I sometimes get an enthousiastic band apologizing that their label doesn't want it.

A few tips I got this far:

* Once an e-mail is unresponded to, I resend it using progstreaming@gmail.com instead of info@progstreaming.com. Often I then do get a reply, with apologies that my first promorequest was stuck in spamfilterworld.
* If I see a form to fill in, I first check the band's Facebook to see if there's an e-mail. Often, that's the case. I despise filling out forms, though I mainly just copy the (standard) promo request
* I prefer international contacts above local contacts. Like in the real world, bosses high above are often more friendly then the middle-man.

What I need:

* e-mails some of you use. Like 'what's your contact at Warner?' and can you introduce me? Same with Roadrunner. KScope is a strange beast, they sometimes respond, but more often than not they keep awefully quiet (despite the twice-email-attack desribed above).

Use PM if the information is 'secret'

[Esoteric]

I think you will often find as well that lots of us are tied into contractual arrangements with our "facilitators/middle men" for digital/stream and everything has to go through them , so even though we may think its a nice idea or have no issue, we are not allowed to. Its not personal.

[Jacob Holm-Lupo]

even though we may think its a nice idea or have no issue, we are not allowed to. Its not personal.

Indeed this is very much the case, and the bigger the label, the more limitations and contractual red tape you will come across. For most labels, having an album on Progstreaming will likely be a violation of whatever digital distribution contract they have. Another thing is of course that permission to stream must also come from the band themselves, at least in cases of licensing, which is common in the prog label world.

My informal guess would be that quite a few of the albums streaming on Progstreaming are not strictly speaking "allowed" to be streamed there, if labels adhered strictly by their own contractual obligations.

And with all this we are not even getting into the songwriter's right to renumeration, regardless of label deals. If copyright organizations (ASCAP et c) started sniffing around these free/idealistic streaming services, they would not be happy at all.

So I say - it's a wonderful service you provide for the listeners, but don't be upset by a lack of response from labels. For them to accomodate you is a very tricky business.

J.

[Sunhillow]

For most labels, having an album on Progstreaming will likely be a violation of whatever digital distribution contract they have.
My informal guess would be that quite a few of the albums streaming on Progstreaming are not strictly speaking "allowed" to be streamed there, if labels adhered strictly by their own contractual obligations.

The funny thing is that in case of digital contracts, the line is not very clear. ITunes, Amazon, Bandcamp, etc all allow bands/label to enhance their digital distribution. I'm not sure about CD-Baby. But the main thing about the concept of Progstreaming is it's temporary. Unlike Spotify and Bandcamp. But alas - law says it's not possible for bands and labels to temporary forgo the right for payment (which I myself would find to be the logical thing. Yet on the other hand - normal radio could be seen as promotion too, and they also have to pay).

And with all this we are not even getting into the songwriter's right to renumeration, regardless of label deals. If copyright organizations (ASCAP et c) started sniffing around these free/idealistic streaming services, they would not be happy at all.

As a matter of fact, the situation is as follows: as a site based in the Netherlands, the site falls under BUMA/Stemra (our beloved local copyright organization). They have contracts with a lot (not all) other European copyright organizations. They've come up with this anual streaming fee, which is a little above 600 euros a year, for up until 30.000 streams per year. Once a year, I submit a list of all the actual plays per stream from the previous year, from which I THINK they are either associated by BUMA, or one of the sister-organizations. For example, that excludes most of the self-made, Bandcamp-like, 500-pieces-pressed, attic-built-releases. I - in someone nicer words - communicated this to BUMA, but I'm not sure if they understand.

This is how larger companies eventually get sued for millions of dollars and employers accused of corruption. There's seldom a fine line, and if crossed, there's no alarm-bell going off.

The main problem with this is that I would LIKE to go to the bottom of this, but the truth is that most likely they've never encountered a situation like mine, and they would probably hide their ignorance by making up rules and restrictions along the way.

But no worries, if Progstreaming would suddenly explode in traffic, I would seek (more) legal advice.