Motorola's ROKR podcast rocks

• 31st Oct 2005

Record labels and publishers give clearance for their tracks to be used in a specially recorded music podcast featuring Common and Gilles Peterson.

Motorola, Inc. is shaping the future of digital music and online broadcasting with two firsts for “podcasting”. The mobile communications leader has not only produced one of the first podcasts created specifically for a mobile phone but also with fully licensed music tracks, marking another step towards full legitimacy of a format frequently branded “the new pirate radio”.

Every copyrighted music track used in the podcast – one of a series of three produced to support the launch of Motorola’s ROKR, the first phone with iTunes – has been licensed from the record label responsible for its original release.

Recorded in New York in September 2005, the podcast features hip-hop innovator Common in conversation with legendary DJ Gilles Peterson. In celebration of Motorola’s groundbreaking collaboration with Apple the two, who were meeting face-to-face for the first time, were brought together by Motorola to discuss great musical collaborations.

Motorola sought licensing for Common and Peterson’s selected songs, which are played during the recording.

The popularity of podcasting has exploded since it was launched last year. So quickly has the format caught on that the two main music licensing bodies, the Mechanical-Copyright Protection Society (MCPS) and the Performing Right Society (PRS), have yet to set a standard licensing agreement like those in place for radio, TV and web streaming services.

As a result, there are few, if any, legitimate podcasters that play music.

“Motorola is excited to be contributing to the development of podcasting,” explains Leslie Dance, Motorola’s Global Director of Media Communications PCS. “Although it’s mushroomed in the last several months, podcasting is still quite new and at the stage where there's as much uncertainty as to what direction the form is going to take as there is excitement about its potential. We feel like we're helping to shape the future of podcasting – especially as far as licensing copyrighted music is concerned. But at the same time, and just as importantly, we're working with some groundbreaking artists to create exciting and relevant content for mobile phones.”

Should Motorola’s move encourage the MCPS and PRS to set a standard for music licensing for podcasts, it could help hundreds of enthusiastic amateurs to break through and encourage professional broadcasters to look seriously at the medium.

“If you look at the podcast section on iTunes or sites like Audioville,” says Steve Ackerman, Director of radio production company Somethin’ Else, “most podcasts are speech-only because of this issue and the cost involved. So this project is really breaking ground.”