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.)
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They’re probably just trying to reduce the MTtT (mean time to torrent). Or they haven’t realized that you can get the Internet on computers now.
Providing people with access to proprietor-controlled content is challenging for librarians (I’m being polite here). It’s horrible that you have to go through such a rigamarole just to do your job.
All CBC employees have access to the APM catalogue from APM’s website.
You have to be a client (which CBC is) to be able to register. Confirmation from APM is usually under 24 hours. Once logged in, you can search and download from their site, including WAV files.
http://www.apmmusic.com
It’s essentially a VML for stock music that we can use on all platforms.
Need more info? Contact your local music librarian or the Toronto Music Library (151-5900).
Nicole Blain
Toronto Music Library
Bummer! I can’t wait for 10 (dare I say 5?) years from now when we look at CDs like we now look at vinyl and with that warm nostalgia.
Ok, this is fully tooting my own horn (boo blog comment spam!), but seriously check out our new search & download site (yes–we offer full broadcast quality tracks).
If anyone wants download privileges, just email me: craig [at] 5alarmmusic.com. It sounds like we missed the boat on this year, but if you check it out, and then tell your bosses, and your bosses’ bossess, “We Want 5 Alarm Music!” Then we’ll all be happy campers.
Good luck!
I don’t think there ever will be the same level of nostalgia for the CD as for vinyl. For one thing CDs are digital (although lossless) so they can be duplicated exactly in any digital medium (650 3.5″ floppies, anyone?). Vinyl isn’t, so people will always be able to convince themselves that they sound warmer or more organic or something along those lines. Nostalgia always has to have a little Vaseline on the lens.
Also, CDs degrade a lot faster, even if kept in a relatively stable environment (5-15 years for consumer-grade is the figure most often quoted). I’ve got vinyl from before I was born that still plays great, but I’d bet there aren’t many playable CDs left from the first few releases.
@Kev Ok. I’ll buy that. I meant to make more of a prediction that CDs will soon be extinct–not as much of a declaration that CDs are as good as/not as good as vinyl records. In any case–our kids will think the idea of having to put a round shiny disc into a player every time you wanted to hear your favorite band is nuts!