Media Decoder Blog: Clear Channel and Taylor Swift's Label Agree to Reinvent Royalty System

(LOS ANGELES) — Radio station giant Clear Channel has signed a deal with Warner Music Group that will for the first time give a major recording company and its artists a cut of revenue generated from traditional radio station airplay. The deal is similar to one Clear Channel cut with Taylor Swift and her Big Machine Label Group last year, and bypasses the regulatory environment in the U.S., where traditional radio stations aren’t required to pay performers royalties for airplay. It has long been assumed performers benefit from the radio exposure in the form of sales.

Spencer Osborne submits: Clear Channel (CCO) has made a bold move. Before delving deeper into exactly what Clear Channel announced, we should look at the events that led up to where we are now.

By Spencer Osborne: Music royalties as we know them may make a dramatic shift in 2012 and any company that pays music royalties will want to keep abreast of any news surrounding the issue. Over the past decade the music business has changed dramatically. We have moved from terrestrial radio to satellite radio and Internet streaming. We have moved from buying an entire album because you like one song to simply buying only the song you like.

Rocco Pendola submits:The folks behind Clear Channel's (CCMO.PK) iHeart Radio keep sending out Tweets directing followers to a Facebook announcement that has Pandora (P)-like playlist

Clear Channel Communications, the largest radio station operator in the United States, dismissed dozens of local D.J.'s this week, saying the cuts were part of a reorganization of its roughly 600 regional radio stations.

By Trefis: Source: iTunes App Store

By Spencer Osborne: In the past decade there have been more changes in audio entertainment than in the three previous decades. Satellite radio, HD Radio, Internet Radio and greater smart phone integration have all combined to give consumers more choices than they ever had before.