Where is the Big Music Database in the Sky?

We learned yesterday that the Corp has inked a deal with APM for the Canadian rights to its extensive catalogue of library music — currently at 250,000 tracks. (The agreement lets us use APM music on all CBC/Radio-Canada platforms and on any third-party “platform” with whom CBC has a contract.)

At first, I was super-excited! ‘Finally,’ I thought, ‘We can download the songs right from our desktop!’

See update, below.

Because the current process of getting music on air seems downright quaint by today’s technology standards. Here is the process.

  • Search for it in a slightly temperamental database (but a huge improvement over the past days’ Prolog, which was invented in 1725)
  • Write the spine number(s) down on a little piece of paper
  • Walk to the music library in your building (down four storeys for most CBC Radio shows in Vancouver)
  • Find the CD
  • Take it into a little booth and record it manually (i.e., in real time) into Dalet or check it out and rip it at your workstation
  • Walk back down to the library to return it.

No, it’s not arduous work, but when you’re under deadline and you need a five-second SFX cut of a hockey crowd, it can be painstaking and often those fine production values you know you’re capable of get dumped because there’s just not enough time.

So when I saw the announcement of us licencing APM music, I figured — great! Most music is digital already (read: iTunes) so now we can just download the tunes!

No dice. We can download “sample” tracks (i.e., not broadcast-quality) and get metadata. But when you need the actual song, get on your walkin’ shoes because they’re on CDs in Toronto (and regions that asked for them).

Why, in this digital world, is this still happening? I’m assuming it’s because of some obscure set of rights the publishers maintain, but really, I’m stumped. It makes sense for the publishers (huge savings from not having to distribute CDs) and licencees (huge convenience improvement.)

What am I missing here?

UPDATE: Turns out the licence agreement is for production music only and not commercial music. That’s certainly a huge step forward — not just that we can download needledrop to our desktop, but more importantly the rights we have now extend to every platform. This includes, finally, both podcast and broadcast rights. (Many radio producers, including myself, made two versions of their pieces — one for broadcast and one for podcast because we had separate rights agreements for each platform.)


6 Comments » See also: Licencing
  Email this Posted at 11:24 am (30 Apr 2008)