We have spoken, and SoundExchange has listened.

When last we left our heroes, your fearless leader (that's me), had taken a firm stance about performance royalties for spoken word artists. Musicians get money when their published intellectual property is played live in many public forums, and over mass media. Spoken word artists (like standup comics) should get paid too when their stuff is used in the same forum/media. Makes sense, no?

For the most part, spoken word artists aren't getting performance royalties. That's because traditional performance rights organizations set up their infrastructure decades ago, and they're set up to monitor music. In 2006, BMI distributed $732 million in royalties to member-composers and publishers. This year, it'll be closer to $900 million. Also, BMI is Broadcast Music Incorporated. Too many people in their organization already drank the "Music-only" Kool-Aid. (Poor Ko0l-Aid. It is so often associated with a destructive cartoon-pitcher that breaks down people's walls, and as the primary means of a cult mass-suicide.)

Well, the battle's nowhere near over, but the first real proof-of-concept that it's not only doable, but is good for everyone, is here. That proof of concept is in a relatively new company called SoundExchange. They are a performance rights agency for streaming media.

I'd first heard about SoundExchange three or four years ago. It seemed like a really nice idea. Who knew they'd ever get anywhere? They recently contacted artists we serve with notices that money is being held in their behalf. I found that strange, as these artists had never registered with SoundExchange. SoundExchange grants blanket licenses to, among others, Sirius and XM Satellite Radio, and distributes a large majority of the license fees among the creators/owners of sound recordings (rather than of published works).

Of course, the most important part of such a royalty payment is how it's calculated. We will examine SoundExchange statements soon. If there's anything really interesting in the first one we see, we'll make sure and post it here.

Maybe this is the first important step in getting all Performance Rights Agencies in line about this issue. Copyrighted, published work performed over mass-media or public performance spaces should be annuities to their creators/owners....whether those recordings contain music or spoken word.

Congratulations, SoundExchange on this bold first step.