Uber Implements New Safety Measures


Uber has rolled out new safety policies for riders, drivers and deliveries as the COVID-19 pandemic continues. The new policies affect most countries, including the United States, Canada and Mexico, and will extend through the end of June, when Uber will reassess the policies for each country.

All riders and drivers with Uber must wear face covers or masks. When wearing a face cover or mask, riders and drivers should make sure the face covering covers from the bridge of the nose down to the chin.

Uber is also advising riders to no longer sit in the front seat, which means every ride with Uber will have one less passenger seat available. UberX rides can now have a maximum of three passengers—allowed only in the backseat.

Before drivers can go online to begin driving for Uber or delivering meals via UberEats, they will be asked to visit a Go Online Checklist, to confirm they have taken preventative measures. The checklist includes steps such as having a face cover or mask, that drivers have sanitized their vehicles or food delivery equipment, and that they will not allow anyone to ride in the front seat of the vehicle. In addition to the checklist, prior to accepting trips or deliveries, drivers will be asked to verify that they are wearing a mask by taking a selfie of themselves wearing it.

Music Advocacy Groups Challenge Tech Platforms Following Release Of Copyright Office Report

The American Association of Independent Music, the Music Artists Coalition, the National Music Publishers Association, the Recording Industry Association of America, the Songwriters of North America, and SoundExchange have issued a statement in response to the release of the U.S. Copyright Office’s report on Section 512 of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.

The U.S. Copyright Office released the report on Thursday (May 21). The report focuses on Section 512 of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), questioning whether the balance that Congress devised in section 512 more than 20 years ago working for all concerned parties. The Copyright Office surveyed copyright holders as well as online digital service providers and taken more than 92,000 comments into consideration.

“The Copyright Office concludes that the balance Congress intended when it established the section 512 safe harbor system is askew,” the report concludes. “There is no doubt that the internet, in all its various component parts, has grown successfully and exponentially over the past two decades. However, despite the advances in legitimate content options and delivery systems, and despite the millions of takedown notices submitted on a daily basis, the scale of online copyright infringement and the lack of effectiveness of section 512 notices to address that situation remain significant problems. While the Office is mindful of those creators who have been able to leverage new technologies to their benefit, their economic success does not provide comfort to the many other creators who have seen their livelihoods impacted drastically by ongoing infringement of their works online and for which they can achieve no relief.”

The report notes that the Copyright Office is “not recommending any wholesale changes to section 512, instead electing to point out the numerous areas where Congress may wish to fine-tune section 512’s current operation in order to better balance the rights and responsibilities of OSPs and rightsholders, in alignment with its objectives when it passed the DMCA.”

The American Association of Independent Music, the Music Artists Coalition, the National Music Publishers Association, the Recording Industry Association of America, the Songwriters of North America, and SoundExchange issued the following response:

“Platform accountability is achievable and mutually beneficial for fans, music creators and digital distribution partners alike. As this report makes clear, the current system is broken – especially when it comes to so-called ‘user-upload platforms’. To succeed, platforms must be made accountable participants in the music ecosystem.
“But the good news is that many of these issues can be addressed by the big technology platforms who exploit music, including by applying already widely available technologies. Here are three things these platforms could do right now to begin to address the issues identified in the report:

 

  • Ensure that ‘take down’ means ‘stay down.’ User-upload platforms should put an end to the ‘whack-a-mole’ era by implementing meaningful, robust processes to ensure that once infringing content is taken down, the same infringing content does not immediately re-appear on the same service. To be an effective remedy, ‘take down’ must mean ‘stay down’.
  • Thwart Stream-Ripping Services. Industrial-scale piracy has not disappeared. Instead, fueled by technological change, it has morphed to new forms like ‘stream-ripping.’ On-demand video streaming services can prevent stream-ripping services from circumventing their protective systems by ensuring that their technological protection measures stay ahead of the stream-ripping services, and by aggressively monitoring when and how their technical protections are being breached. Furthermore, search engines should make every effort not to link to such services.
  • Permit Copyright Owners to Monitor Infringement of Their Own Works. Social media platforms should provide tools that allow copyright owners – regardless of their size – to monitor infringement of their own works and establish automated and scalable notice and takedown systems like many other user-upload platforms already have.”

The Artist Rights Alliance, which is leading artist mobilization efforts to reform section 512 of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act safe harbors, also released the following statement in response to the Copyright Office DMCA Notice and Takedown Report:

“When you cut through the bureaucratic caution and legalese, this report describes a simple, brutal truth: The tech monopolies are failing artists, songwriters, and music fans. And they couldn’t care less. Billion-dollar valuations of tech companies built on a foundation of shortchanging artists and songwriters dispel the myth that ‘there is no money in music.’ It’s time to put that money back in the hands of the artists and songwriters who invest their time, labor, heart, and soul into making music, and the people who believe in their dreams and support their careers.

“The bottom line:  tech platforms hold the keys to their own networks and could massively reduce the amount of online piracy and the crushing burden it imposes on working songwriters and musicians today if they wanted to. But they don’t. Because they make too much money off the broken system this report describes, selling ads alongside pirated copies of our work and scraping data from music fans everywhere they go online, from the most legitimate streaming services to the darkest corners of the web.

“If we could get some common decency from the Silicon Valley giants, we could work out solutions to many of these issues without changes to the law. The Judiciary Committees asked for this report and must now push tech companies to find these solutions and insist that independent creators have a seat at the table.

“If that fails, Congress must act.”

The Artist Rights Alliance (as ARA and under its predecessor name, the Content Creators Coalition) has led the charge to reform the DMCA for the last five years.

Bobby Bones To Star In 16-Part Series For National Geographic

Bobby Bones is set to star in a new National Geographic series, tentatively titled Breaking Bobby Bones. The new 16-part series on the slate for 2020/2021 will feature Bones traveling to far-flung destinations across the country to seek out people with unique jobs, skills, hobbies, and abilities who challenge him to learn the tricks of their trades.

Each half-hour episode is an action-packed celebration of resilient Americans who work hard, play hard and above all, take pride in everything they do. National Geographic is working with long-time partner BBC Studios on the all-new show.

Music Biz And Record Store Day Join Forces For Virtual Couch Camp

The Music Business Association and Record Store Day are co-hosting a virtual Couch Camp educational conference, set for Tuesday, June 2-5 via Zoom. This online event will take the place of Record Store Day’s annual Summer Camp program.

Each day will consist of three hours of programming starting at 3 p.m. ET, including a mix of webinar presentations, roundtable discussions, and more, all culminating in a cocktail party on June 5. Retail store attendees can expect presentations from Patreon, eBay, Instagram, Facebook, Shopify, Broadtime and more, as well as roundtable discussions on subjects including social media best practices, leadership in the time of COVID-19, and financial planning.

“The independent retail community has been impacted in unprecedented ways this year, but continues to show its resilience in the face of adversity,” said Music Biz president Portia Sabin. “We’re thrilled to partner with Record Store Day to bring Couch Camp to life, and arm this community with the knowledge, tools and connections they need to weather this storm.”

“While we are saddened that we won’t be able to gather in person for RSD Summer Camp this year, we’re grateful to Music Biz for helping us put on this essential online forum,” shared Record Store Day Co-Founder Carrie Colliton. “Couch Camp will allow us an opportunity to gather and meet and reconnect with our peers in the retail scene, and examine both the business and personal sides of running a successful record store in 2020.”

Music Biz previously announced it would cancel its in-person Annual Conference due to ongoing concerns around the COVID-19 health crisis in favor of virtual programming and networking opportunities including the upcoming Couch Camp.

Mac McAnally To Release New Album ‘Once In A Lifetime’ In July


Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame member and 10-time CMA Musician of the Year winner Mac McAnally will release his latest project, Once In A Lifetime, on July 31 via Mailboat Records.

The first single released from McAnally’s self-produced album is the title track, which he co-wrote and recorded with Drake White. The song came about after McAnally and White saw each other at a local breakfast restaurant. After White asked if McAnally was enjoying himself these days, McAnally responded, “Yeah, every day. Every day is once in a lifetime,” which sparked the idea for the track.
The album opener “Alive and in Between” was inspired by an art project McAnally participated in, where novels are given to songwriters and visual artists, who then create a song or piece of art based on the novel. McAnally studied fellow Mississippi native Harrison Scott Key’s memoir The World’s Largest Man.

“The author came from the same part of the country as me and it woke up a bunch of stuff about my childhood—what it was like hanging with my dad, going to the drugstore, talking about football, politics, and religion,” he says. “That opened up that part of my brain that I haven’t been down into for a while.”

The album Once In A Lifetime is available for pre-order here.

Once in a Lifetime Track Listing:
Alive and In Between (Mac McAnally)
Almost All Good (Mac McAnally)
Once in a Lifetime feat. Drake White (Drake White and Mac McAnally)
First Sign of Trouble (Mac McAnally)
That’s Why They Call It Falling (Mac McAnally)
Changing Channels (Jimmy Buffett, Mac McAnally)
Just Right (Will Kimbrough, Mac McAnally)
Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown) (Paul McCartney and John Lennon)
Good Guys Win (Roger Guth, Mac McAnally)
Just Like It Matters (Mac McAnally)
Brand New Broken Heart (Mac McAnally)
The Better Part of Living (Mac McAnally)

Music Advocates Denounce Big Radio Bailout In HEROES Act

Following the release of the House of Representatives’ draft of the HEROES Act, SoundExchange, the American Association of Independent Music (A2IM), the Future of Music Coalition and the Recording Academy issued the following statement:

“The economic impact of COVID-19 is very real and causing dramatic upheaval in local communities throughout the country. Musicians are proud that during this time of isolation, uncertainty and crisis, communities have turned to music for strength and comfort. That is why earlier efforts by Congress to provide aid to truly local broadcasters who serve their communities with unique and locally-relevant content has merit and received broad support.

“However, language in the HEROES Act introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives essentially greenlights a warrantless Big Radio Bailout for every massive broadcaster within the multibillion dollar industry who can lay claim to a smaller station within their portfolio. To be clear: there are a small number of broadcasting companies who own hundreds of stations in markets of all sizes across the country, and the language in this bill will provide more help, even if unintentionally, to companies like iHeartMedia, Cumulus and Sinclair than it will to the small independent broadcasters truly hurting in this environment. The stunningly broad language would divert assistance away from true community outlets in favor of the same mega corporations that have been laying off thousands of local employees in a wave of consolidation. Truly small, non-commercial and community radio stations shouldn’t be forced to compete with huge companies for limited payroll assistance.”

“There is a difference between supporting vital local news outlets and billion dollar broadcast conglomerates, especially given that these enormous radio conglomerates refuse to compensate recording artists for using their music, in contrast with satellite radio and streaming services that do pay. With so many people in need at this time, let’s keep the focus where it should be: small businesses and workers, not on big broadcasters.”

Big Machine Artists Unite For National Anthem During Upcoming Indy 500 Special

Florida Georgia Line. Photo: Robby Klein.

Sheryl CrowFlorida Georgia LineLady AntebellumThomas RhettBrantley GilbertJustin Moore and Brett Young, Carly Pearce, Mike Eli of the Eli Young Band, Danielle BradberyAbbey ConeHeath SandersNoah SchnackyAvenue BeatDan Smalley, and Payton Smith are all joining forces for a moving rendition of the National Anthem this Sunday (May 24) during the NBC broadcast of Indy 500 Special: Back Home Again at 2 p.m. ET. This year’s race, originally slated for May 24, was rescheduled for Aug. 23 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Because of social distancing guidelines, each artist recorded their part of “The Star-Spangled Banner,” with producer Julian Raymond and BMLG President/CEO Scott Borchetta co-producing the clip.

The special chronicles the 2019 race featuring an epic duel between Team Penske’s Simon Pagenaud and Andretti Autosport’s Alexander Rossi and incorporates traditional pre-race moments such as this unique performance of the Anthem.

The Nashville-based label has a long-standing relationship with the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, most notably their title sponsorship of the Big Machine Vodka 400 at the Brickyard and producing FGL Fest, a one-day Florida Georgia Line-hosted concert event inside the track.

On-Air During A Pandemic: How One Radio Station Is Handling COVID-19 [Interview]

Dennis Banka, the station owner of 104.1 The Ranch in Carthage, Tennessee, bought the station in 2006. In addition to his ownership duties, he also serves as on-air talent and is a familiar voice in the cars and homes of those in the surrounding community. Like many businesses, 104.1 The Ranch was directly affected by the unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic. Banka spoke with MusicRow to discuss his approach to managing his station and serving his community during this pandemic.

MusicRow: Has the station been working remotely? What have been some challenges?

Banka: Initially, we paid people. Then, we laid people off. We’re able to get the [Paycheck Protection Program loan] and bring them back. Initially, laying people off is the hard part because they take it personally. The PPP was great because I have a good relationship with my local banker who is already set up to be an SBA loan affiliate. As soon as the PPP came available my accountant called me, and my bank called me, and said, “Come down here and fill out these papers.” Once we filled out the paperwork, it was quick and painless. As soon as we got that back, we called people back. Some are working remotely, and some hours have been cut drastically, but everyone’s at full pay.

What are you doing in the office to stay healthy?

We’re in a smaller building, so we’re trying to protect everyone as much as possible. The bathroom is at the front door when you walk in. I don’t care who you are, you’re washing your hands. The biggest challenge is sanitizing the studios. We touch so much as board operators—the microphone, board, CD players, mouses, keyboards, computer screens—we’re touching everything. We’re trying to keep a really good account of what we touch and sanitizing everything before we leave.

Sunday mornings, we have preachers do live preaching, and we’ve had to convert those folks to either do it on their phone or send us a Wav [Audio File] or MP3. We just now started allowing preachers back into the building. There’s a whole process between preachers where we go in and wipe down the podium, swap out microphones and clean the microphones as a precaution.

How have your duties evolved since the start of the pandemic?

The last six weeks, I have worked here from five in the morning ’til seven at night, alone. One, to make sure everything got on and off that’s supposed to. Two, to be here for the clients and answer any questions. I got really proactive when this whole thing started. I contacted all my advertisers and gave them all my cell number. If the grocery store got meat, call me. Get in toilet paper, call me. We’re updating spots daily. A client called and said, “We’re closing tomorrow, can you change our commercial?” We were able to cut that.

I think being here for the clients really helped. Anybody that wanted to jump ship, we’re able to tell them, “This is going to be over, and you need to be [on] top of [people’s] minds. Let’s keep on advertising.” We have a telecommunication company that advertises with us and they’re offering free channels. I said, “Broadcast that. Let’s announce what you’re doing to help the people. It [helped] our local grocery stores. They weren’t running their weekly specials but they’re still there. Let’s talk about six-feet distancing, how you’re counting customers, how you’re stocking, when you’re cleaning, special times for seniors. Anything you’re doing that is different or special, let’s tell people.”

We aired the governor’s daily briefing, a local task force meeting, and a lot of specialty programming during the day for information. Someone had to be here to get that on and off and make sure the levels were good

How have you been handling programming duties at the station?

My duties as owner involve mowing the grass, checking the transmitter, all those daily maintenance things so I have people email me instead of taking music calls. There hasn’t been that much change in the chart, and there are more new songs being added that we have no place to play [them]. As much as we want to play somebody, nothing’s changing because artists aren’t touring or out there promoting their music. They’re not out there selling concert tickets and not doing radio station visits. We’re doing a lot of phone interviews and Facebook takeovers, but it doesn’t translate to the chart. It’s not fair for us to drop records just to add new records.

I think right now, a lot of things that are on the chart are staying there because people need some sort of normalcy. They just need something that sounds familiar and the same. Everything else is changing every day. We lost our local sports; we have baseball and softball. So, we substituted in classic baseball, classic softball, classic NFL just so [the station] feels the same. It’s just really hard right now to say, “Here’s a new song from XYZ artist,” and there’s no award show or event to promote. There’s no momentum. Stations, I think, are just trying to stay on the air. We don’t know what the Fall is going to look like, what our Summer is going to look like with our county fair. We don’t know any of that, so I hate to say it but [music] is taking a back seat.

With station events/concerts shut down, how have you been helping artists connect with listeners?

We’ve done a lot of [phone interviews]. I contacted the PR companies and said, “I’m here from morning to night. Tell them to call me and get artists on to talk.” We record it, and we find a place [on-air] for it. We’ve done a few Facebook takeovers. The major labels send us liners, you know about COVID and staying apart, stay at home.

We’re doing as much as we can but being hands on is not there. I think with new artists not on radio tours is going to hurt because that’s when we fall in love with the artist. That when we become friends with the artist. That’s when we care about the artist, and when we get to know the artist. That’s where we have the first interaction. At this station, we like putting artists on the radio.

How have you been handling the business-related meetings at the station?

This year there are license renewals for television and radio for Tennessee. There’s a lot of paperwork that has to be done for the FCC. There’s a lot that has to be done behind the scenes that we’ve been taking care of. There’s other filings, even our taxes. We’ve been operating like business as usual.

I’m out there cutting the grass in front of the radio station so people see things as normal. I think if you take care of your storefront and your product sounds consistent, people know you’re not afraid. You want to be the strength of the community.

If you say doom and gloom, they’re going to hear doom and gloom; they’re going to live doom and gloom. Point out some good stuff happening. Check on your neighbors; check on the elderly. Make sure they have food; make sure that they’re mentally okay. We talked to our local drug prevention coalition. Check on addicts to make sure that they are not struggling. It’s your attitude that’s going to help other people, so we’re doing the same as a business.

What content have you been running on-air to engage the listeners?

We’re giving people a reason to tune in because their normal patterns are gone. No one, for the last six weeks, has taken their kids to school or gone to work. How do we engage them? The top 60 songs are great but we also need to provide content between that. We report the COVID-19 numbers, and the numbers related to testing. Let’s talk about people that recovered. Let’s talk about people that are doing better.

We do an annual “Senior Salute” to the graduating seniors for two high schools. Normally, they get a paper in homeroom to fill out with their name, their parents’ names, things they’ve done, things they’re going to miss, a hashtag that people use to describe them. Since schools were shut down, we weren’t able to do that. We contacted the principals and through technology, we’re able to get those forms out to all the students. Over a period two weeks, we will play a song for each graduating senior. We’re giving away prizes to graduating seniors. We’re doing the stuff we normally do this time year, so it sounds like 104.1 The Ranch. I think people appreciate the fact that we went that extra step.

Weekly Radio Report (5/22/20)

Click here or above to access MusicRow’s weekly CountryBreakout Radio Report.

ASCAP Experience Goes Virtual For 2020

ASCAP’s annual ASCAP Experience conference has transitioned this year to a free, weekly virtual event set to launch May 28. The event was to take place April 1-3 in Los Angeles.

Now dubbed ASCAP Experience: Home Edition, the virtual series will kick off with a conversation between Grammy-winning artist Shaggy, along with his manager and Cherrytree Records founder Martin Kierszenbaum. as well as a panel with “Stuck With You” songwriters Whitney Phillips and Glan Stone, and a creative session with songwriter Priscilla Renea (Miranda Lambert and Carrie Underwood’s “Somethin’ Bad,” Rhianna’s “California King Bed”).

The new long-term initiative from ASCAP, dubbed ASCAP Experience: Home Edition, will take place weekly on Thursdays between 3:00 p.m. ET/12:00 p.m. PT and 6:00 p.m. ET/3:00 p.m. PT. It will initially extend through the end of July, bringing ASCAP Experience original live programming into the homes of ASCAP members, aspiring songwriters and others for the first time.

The ASCAP Experience: Home Edition Thursday, May 28 kick-off schedule is:

3:00pm – 3:05pm: ASCAP Experience: Home Edition Welcome with ASCAP Chairman and President Paul Williams
3:05pm – 4:00pm: Featured Conversation with Shaggy and manager Martin Kierszenbaum
4:10pm – 4:40pm: Anatomy of a Song: “Stuck with U” with songwriters Whitney Phillips and Gian Stone
4:50pm – 5:20pm: ASCAP Sound Advice: I Just Wrote a Song. Now What?
4:50pm – 5:20pm: Sponsor Session: Qobuz: Who cares about audio quality? HD music streaming has answers
5:30pm – 6:30pm: Creative Session: Finding the “Aha!” Moment with hit songwriter Priscilla Renea

“Music brings us comfort, joy and community. It unites us by resonating with our shared humanity. The world needs to feel that sense of connection today,” said ASCAP Chairman of the Board and President Paul Williams. “To keep the craft and creation of music flowing, ASCAP is thrilled to offer ASCAP Experience: Home Edition, an innovative series of virtual educational programming presented at no cost, featuring top writers, producers, publishers and music experts who want to share their knowledge and advice for the greater good of music. If music creators have to stay home, then ASCAP wants to give them a way to stay informed, inspired and engaged so they can stay creative. I hope everyone joins us.”

Every week, ASCAP Experience: Home Edition will be hosted by top songwriters, music producers, music publishers, composers, thought-leaders and the ASCAP team, featuring real-time topics and deep dives on issues that matter most to the future of music creators. Attendees can learn how to make money from their music, connect with music publishers, preserve their mental and physical wellness and more. Each program block will also include ASCAP “Sound Advice,” condensed how-to panels on PRO basics, works registration and more essential topics for music creators.

Registration will be free, and open to anyone. Following each session, most programming will be available on-demand for anyone who may have missed the live webcast.

Previous 2020 ASCAP Experience registrants and new attendees can register at ascapexperience.com. ASCAP Experience: Home Edition is open to all music creators, aspiring songwriters and music industry professionals, regardless of which performing rights organization they belong to.