SoundExchange Reporting Blog

Wow – it seems like we just finished up gathering data for the Q4 2009 SoundExchange reports. But don’t look now, because just five weeks from this Friday – that’s Friday, April 9, 2010 – is the deadline to get Public Interactive your Q1 2010 SoundExchange reporting data!

Here, again, are the basics, which hopefully folks are getting familiar with:

1. All reporting data must come from within Q1 2010, that is between the dates of January 1 – March 31, 2010.

2. Playlist log files that meet our formatting requirements are required from all stations that are not PI Composer Pro clients. Also, streaming log files are required from all stations that do not host their streams through Public Interactive.

3. Any data files that need to be provided to PI should be uploaded to us using Composer Pro or Basic. To do that, go to Upload Playlists/Streaming Logs under SoundExchange Dashboard in the global navigation.

4. Every station that doesn’t report on the full quarter must specify the start dates of their two chosen reporting weeks using the SoundExchange Dashboard in Composer Pro/Basic. To do that go to View Reports under SoundExchange Dashboard in the global navigation then click on Edit Report Dates for Q1 for each of your streams. Then uncheck the Disregard dates and use full quarter instead check box and use the date drop downs to specify the two starting dates of your chosen reporting weeks.

5. If your station streams Classical 24 you must enter or update the guide information in Composer Pro/Basic for each stream to properly reflect when you streamed C24 during your reporting period, so that we can integrate those playlists into your reports. To do that go to Create/Edit Program Guide under Program Guide Composer in the global navigation. NOTE: When adding the Classical 24 program in your guide, be sure to set the Program Format to Classical: C24.

If you have already uploaded files to us and have not yet confirmed with me that we got them and they are in the correct format LET ME KNOW! Call or email me and I will verify whether we received your files and if the formatting is correct.

If you are not a Composer Pro client of ours and do not yet have your Composer Basic login, let me know and I will give that to you.

Finally, not many folks have weighed in on what they might like to learn from all this data that we’re collecting for SoundExchange reporting. We’d like to be able to give back and share information with the system, but we need your input! Take a look at this post and add your ideas as a comment.

Onward!

During our session on SoundExchange reporting at the PRIMA conference in New Orleans last week, an excellent question was posed: does Public Interactive have any plans to share information that could be gleaned from all of the playlist and stream listenting data that we’re collecting for reporting purposes?

Yes, indeed, a most excellent question!

The short-term answer is we don’t have a plan yet for reporting such information, because we’ve been quite busy just reaching out to stations, gathering data, building our tools like Composer Pro, and generating the quarterly reports. The long-term answer is most definitely yes! We would love to report back information and statistics that would be of interest to the system.

Now that the question has been raised – and now that we’ve gotten our reporting legs under us, a bit – we would like to begin generating and sharing aggregate information based on the data we’ve gathered.

The obvious question, though, is, what do you people want to know?

To that end, we’d like to begin soliciting your input on what type of information based on SoundExchange reporting data should we report back to the system? If you have any ideas or suggestions, please add them as a comment to this post, so all can see what others are interested in. Once we get an idea of what kind of information folks are interested in, we’ll see about generating some reports that answer your questions.

Keep in mind the following parameters:

• We can only share aggregate statistics, meaning we cannot share data for any specific station. Stations, of course, have access to their own SX reports that we generate via Composer Basic or Pro.

• We have two types of data upon which to draw:
  • Playlists (potentially) include the following information for each song streamed:
    • Song Title
    • Featured Artist
    • Album Title
    • Marketing Label
    • Song play frequency/time of each play/Actual Total Performances (number of people that heard a song)
  • Streaming access logs includes information about stream listening, such as time and duration of listener sessions.

• We can also break things down by stream format, which is identified as one of the following:
  • Classical
  • Jazz
  • Music Mix
  • News and Information
  • News/Classical
  • News/Jazz
  • News/Music Mix
  • Adult Album Alternative

So, we can answer – or try to answer – questions like:

What’s the most frequently played piece of music on classical streams?

What song was heard by the most listeners?

What are the peak listening hours for AAA streams?

Etc., and so on.

Think about it, noodle on it, kick it around a bit and let us know what you’d like to learn from all this. Once we get some feedback, we’ll figure out what the popular questions are and do our best to provide some answers both now and going forward.

After several weeks of drowning in data files, crunching untold numbers and consuming enough coffee to raise the GNP of Colombia a few points, we have officially generated and delivered reports to SoundExchange for Q4 2009! Thanks to all who got us data – or at least tried to. Thanks to your efforts we were able to report on 227 stations covering 300 streams, a roughly 30% percent increase in both over the Q3 SX reports!

If you didn’t deliver your Q4 data to us, but do have it – hold on to it! We currently don’t have a procedure for submitting reports after the delivery date. We may at some point be able to accept it and generate reports after the fact, but for now just keep it in a safe place in case PI – or SoundExchange – asks for it.

As good as the response was for Q4, there are still lots of you stations that haven’t reported. Please please please plan to start doing so for Q1 2010. If you don’t start complying, bad things will happen. I’m not sure what those things are or when they will commence but yes, indeed, they will, sooner or later.

On our end, we’re already planning on starting work for the next round of reports by making the SoundExchange Dashboard component of Composer Basic/Pro more user friendly, and by finally starting to collect data from syndicated shows, starting with the biggies (NPR, PRI, APM music shows). Be sure to keep checking back here for information on that end of things.

On a different note, next week I will be attending the PRIMA conference in New Orleans (Who Dat?), and will be leading a session on – what else? – SoundExchange reporting. That session will be at 9:00am on Friday, and will include Mike Riksen, NPR’s VP of Policy and Representation. If you’re attending, be sure to load up on coffee and beignets beforehand and bring your SX reporting questions!

Finally, for those wondering, the deadline to get us your reporting data for Q1 2010 (covering January 1 – March 31) will be Friday, April 9, 2010. Of course, you don’t need to wait until the last minute to give us your data. I encourage everyone to get us your data as soon as your reporting weeks are over!!! The sooner you get it to us, the sooner we can validate that you gave us what we need, fix any problems and generally get it out of the way.

As a reminder, data should now be submitted to us using either Composer Pro or Composer Basic (well, vendors can still submit data to us on your behalf via FTP). If you are not a Public Interactive Composer Pro client and have not received a login to Composer Basic for data submission, please contact me and I will give your station’s login.

Many of you already know this – or should know this – but the deadline to submit your station’s Q4 2009 SoundExchange reporting data to Public Interactive is two days away – Friday, January 15, 2010!

We’re up to our eyes, ears, noses and throats here already in Q4 data from stations (thanks to everyone who has already submitted their data!) but there are still a lot of you from whom we haven’t heard – so let’s get that data to us!

Here one more time, for the record, are the reporting particulars:

1. All reporting data must come from within Q4 2009, that is between the dates of October 1 – December 31, 2009.

2. Playlist log files that meet our formatting requirements are required from all stations that are not PI Composer Pro clients. Also, streaming log files are required from all stations that do not host their streams through Public Interactive.

3. Composer Basic users must accept the Terms of Service before we can officially accept your data and generate reports.

4. Every station (both Composer Pro and Basic users) must specify the start dates of their two chosen reporting weeks using the SoundExchange Dashboard in Composer Pro or Basic.

5. All stations that stream Classical 24 must enter or update the guide information in Composer Pro/Basic for each stream to properly reflect when you streamed C24 during your reporting period, so that we can integrate those playlists into your reports.

6. You should upload your data to Public Interactive using the SoundExchange Dashboard screens in Composer Pro or Basic. If you are not a Composer Pro client of PI and have not yet received a login to Composer Basic contact me and I’ll send you your login.

If you have already uploaded files to us and have not yet confirmed with me that we got them and they are in the correct format LET ME KNOW ASAP! Call or email me and I will verify whether we received your files and if the formatting is correct.

That is all for now.

A new year has begun which, aside from meaning that we’re all little bit older (as my kids enjoy reminding me of frequently), also means that anther calendar quarter has ended for which SoundExchange reporting data are soon due.

What better way to begin a new year than by meeting legal requirements? I don’t know about you but nothing better comes to mind for me.

As you should know by now, the mechanics of reporting to SoundExchange through PI changed a bit from Q3 to Q4, mainly with the release of Composer Basic (and the renamed and revamped Composer Pro for our previous Composer clients). Here are the main points to keep in mind:

1. All reporting data from Q4 2009 (that is data from between the dates of October 1 – December 31, 2009) must be in the required format and submitted to Public Interactive  by COB Friday January 15, 2010, in order for us to guarantee that we can generate and submit reports to SoundExchange on your station’s behalf.

2. Playlist log files that meet our formatting requirements are required from all stations that are not PI Composer Pro clients. Also, streaming log files are required from all stations that do not host their streams through Public Interactive.

3. Composer Basic users must accept the Terms of Service before we can officially accept your data and generate reports.

4. Every station (both Composer Pro and Basic users) must specify their chosen reporting dates using the SoundExchange Dashboard in Composer Pro or Basic.

5. Stations that stream Classical 24 – again whether you are a Composer Pro or Basic user – must  update the guide information for each of your streams in Composer to properly reflect when you streamed C24 during your reporting period, so that we can integrate those playlists into your reports. IMPORTANT NOTE: When adding the Classical 24 program in your guide, be sure to set the Program Format to Classical: C24.

All stations that have registered with Public Interactive for SoundExchange reporting should now have a login to either Composer Pro or Composer Basic. If you do not, contact me and I’ll send you your login.

If you have already uploaded files to us, whether via FTP or Composer Pro/Basic and have not yet confirmed with me that we got them and they are in the correct format LET ME KNOW ASAP! We’re still working out the kinks in the new tools and don’t want anybody to fall through the cracks.

OK, let’s all start the year by being fully compliant! Thanks as always for your efforts.

Before 2009 waltzes out of our lives, allow us here at Public Interactive to say thanks to everyone for their efforts in the realm of SoundExchange reporting this year! We appreciate all the hard work by stations that have submitted data to us for reporting back to SoundExchange. We appreciate it, the CPB appreciates it and, believe it or not, SoundExchange appreciates it! Honest.

Before everyone disappears to drink egg nog and whatnot I wanted to remind folks about a few key things to keep in mind for submitting your Q4 data for SoundExchange reporting to us .

By now, everybody who has opted to be covered by the CPB-SoundExchange agreement and registered with Public Interactive for SoundExchange reporting should have access to the tools we have developed to make data submission easier. This includes both Composer Pro clients of ours, as well as Composer Basic users. If your station is not a PI Composer Pro client and has not yet received a login to Composer Basic, please contact me and I’ll get you set up.

Lots of detail on Composer Basic is available here, so I won’t rehash it all in this post. Here are some important things for everyone to keep in mind:

1. Data for Q4 reports must come from with October 1 – December 31, 2009 (i.e. the fourth calendar quarter). Basic information on the reporting data that you need to provide to us is available here.

2. Composer Pro clients don’t need to submit playlist logs to us (assuming they actually put playlist data into Composer Pro); however, if your streams are not hosted by Public Interactive you will still need to upload your streaming access logs to us. Composer Pro documentation is available here.

3. Composer Basic users will need accept the Terms of Service before we can officially accept your data and generate reports. You will then need to upload playlist log files to us, in addition to streaming access logs. Composer Basic documentation is available here; in addition a Composer Basic Quick Start Guide is available here.

4. Everyone, whether you are a Composer Pro or Basic client, must specify their chosen reporting dates using the SoundExchange Dashboard in Composer Pro/Basic. If you don’t we’ll assume that you are supplying us with a full quarter’s worth of data and will generate reports based on that assumption. To set your reporting dates in Composer Pro or Basic, go to View Reports, then click on Edit Report Dates for Q4 for each of your streams. Then uncheck the Disregard dates and use full quarter instead check box and use the date drop downs to specify the starting date of both of your chosen reporting weeks. Make sure to do that for all of your streams for which you are supplying reporting data.

5. Stations that stream Classical 24 – again whether you are a Composer Pro or Basic user – must  update the guide information for each of your streams in Composer to properly reflect when you streamed C24 during your reporting period. This is so we can integrate C24 playlists into your your station’s reports. In the future will be collecting and integrating playlists for other syndicated shows. IMPORTANT NOTE: When adding the Classical 24 program in your guide, be sure to set the Program Format to Classical: C24.

All of this (file uploads, setting reporting dates, accepting TOS, etc.) needs to be done by the deadline of Friday, January 15, 2010 in order for us to guarantee that we’ll be able to generate and submit Q4 reports on your station’s behalf.

That’s it for now! I’ll be out of the office starting Christmas day and will be back on Monday, January 4, 2010. In the meantime, feel free to submit your data to us using Composer Pro or Basic. Let me know that you have and I’ll review it – or answer any questions – when I get back.

Thanks again and Happy New Year to all and to all a good night – or day, you know, depending on when you read this.

It may only be December 16 but for you stations that have to do SoundExchange reporting through Public Interactive Christmas has come early (or, for some, Hanukkah has come right on time)! The long awaited, much ruminated, never to be duplicated (where’s Muhammad Ali when you need him?) Composer Basic has finally and officially been launched! Big thanks to all of you stations who helped us with beta testing.

It has been launched just in time, too, for stations to use for getting us their Q4 reporting data (from within October 1 – December 31, 2009) which you may already know is due to us by Friday, January 15, 2010.

Composer Basic is the tool you will now use to manage your station’s contact and stream information with us for SoundExchange reporting, upload playlist and/or streaming log files, specify your chosen quarterly reporting weeks and access completed reports that we have generated and submitted to SoundExchange on your behalf. Composer Basic will also allow you to specify your weekly schedules, for the purpose of letting us know what syndicated programming you stream, so that we can collect playlists from the producers of those shows and integrate them into your station’s SoundExchange reports.

Composer Basic is for stations that are not already PI Composer clients. As mentioned in an earlier post, those stations have been upgraded to Composer Pro, which offers all of the functionality of Composer Basic, plus playlist entry and public facing pages and widgets to display your guides and playlists.

If your station has registered with Public Interactive for SoundExchange reporting (and you’re not already a Composer Pro client) then your designated contacts should have already received an email from us with login information and basic instructions for getting started with Composer Basic. Please take a few minutes to login, review the data that we have on hand for you and get familiar with the tool.

If your station did not receive your Composer Basic login, please contact me and I’ll get that to you.

Full documentation on Composer Basic can be found here. Also, a Composer Basic Quick Start Guide is available here. Feel free to print these out and take them home; they both make for excellent bedtime reading – not to mention last minute stocking stuffers!

Here are some important points to know about using Composer Basic:

1. In order to use Composer Basic your station will first need to review and agree to the Terms of Service that Public Interactive and NPR have developed, which grants Public Interactive permission to collect your data and submit reports to SoundExchange on your behalf,  and also gives you access to Composer Basic. You will not be able to access Composer Basic (and Public Interactive will not be able to collect your data and submit reports to SoundExchange on your behalf) until you do so.

2. Stations (and their vendors such as Spinitron and StreamGuys) that were previously given FTP accounts with Public Interactive to transfer data files to us, can continue to upload data files that way if they like. However, stations will still be required to login to Composer Basic to review whether data files have been uploaded and accepted and to specify their chosen reporting weeks each quarter and to update their guide data for reporting weeks.

3. Stations should take time to review what, if any, guide data we already have for your streams and make any necessary corrections. However, be aware that for Q4 2009 reports the only syndicated show for which we will be integrating playlist data is Classical 24. If you streamed this show during your Q4 reporting weeks, please make sure that the guide data in Composer Basic  properly reflects when you streamed the show.

That’s it! Thanks for everyone’s patience – both in the past and in the future – as we work to make this tool as useful as possible for everyone.

Happy… whatever it is you celebrate at this time of year!

I trust that everybody had a great Thanksgiving. I sure did! The last of the turkey leftovers was eaten last night. Always a sad moment when the bird is gone for good.

Speaking of turkeys, SoundExchange Q4 reporting data, as many of you know, is due to us here at Public Interactive by Friday January 15, 2010.

Here, again, are the relevant points to keep in mind:

1. Unless I have already told you otherwise, choose two 7-day consecutive periods within the quarter (October 1 – December 31, 2009) to report on. To repeat, your reporting data must must must be completely contained within Q4 or we cannot include it!

2. For each song streamed, the following information is required (yes, it is all required): song title, featured artist(s), album title, marketing label, start date and time, and EITHER end date and time OR duration of play.

3. Stations that are not Public Interactive Composer clients must submit a playlist log that matches our playlist file formatting requirements. Playlist files that do not match this format cannot be processed by us and will be rejected.

4. Stations that do not have their streams hosted by Public Interactive must submit streaming access logs that cover the chosen reporting period. Playlist logs alone are not sufficient; without streaming access logs (not aggregate usage statistics) we cannot generate reports on your station’s behalf.

This information should be old hat to many of you by now. Now, on to some new and exciting information!

This week we have begun rolling out changes to our Composer product to make data transfer, and managing of SoundExchange reporting information, easier. This involves two things:

1. Existing Public Interactive Composer clients were all upgraded earlier this week to Composer Pro! What is Pro? It’s the same Composer Program Guide and Playlist tools (with a new look), plus the new SoundExchange Dashboard. The Dashboard allows you to manage your contact and stream information with us for SX reporting, upload streaming log files (if your streams are not hosted with us), specify your quarterly reporting periods and access completed reports that we generate and submit to SX on your behalf.

If you haven’t already, please check out the Dashboard, review your contact and stream information and generally get familiar with it. An updated Composer Pro User Guide is also now available, detailing the changes.

2. A beta version of Composer Basic is now being shared with a handful of stations that are not PI clients. What is Basic? It includes the Composer Program Guide tool, for fletting us know what syndicated programming you stream, plus the new SoundExchange Dashboard. The Dashboard allows you to manage your contact and stream information with us for SX reporting, upload playlist and streaming log files, specify your quarterly reporting periods and access completed reports that we generate and submit to SX on your behalf.

This is the tool that the rest of you will use going forward which has a guide input tool to manage your weekly schedules, for the purpose of letting us know what syndicated programming you stream, as well as the SoundExchange Dashboard, which you will use to manage your contact and stream information with us for SX reporting, upload playlist and streaming log files, specify your quarterly reporting periods and access completed reports that we generate and submit to SX on your behalf.

If you’ve been lucky (or unlucky, depending on your point of view) enough to have been picked for beta testing, we appreciate your feedback and help!

We hope to make Composer Basic available to all stations who have registered with the CPB and PI for SoundExchange reporting in the next two weeks, so be on the lookout for an email from us with your login and connection instructions.

Thanks to those early bird stations that have already submitted their Q4 data, and to everyone for being patient with us as we build out these tools.