Written by Guest Blogger: Heather McDaniels

When you see a message scrolling or flashing across a billboard, or a video advertisement on the side of a stadium, or even short videos streamed on scoreboards at ballgames, you are seeing products of what is known as the digital signage industry. You are of course familiar with the concepts of advertisement and entertainment in public places, designed to meet a large audience; the digital signage industry is essentially an extension of these ideas, by which the same advertisement and entertainment are brought to the public through digital media. Now, thanks to the spread and usefulness of wireless internet, digital signage seems to be expanding even more, to the point that it will likely soon be surprising to see a billboard that does not change periodically, or a message that does not scroll endlessly.

Already, it is a bit strange to think back just a few years to when digital signage was a far smaller industry. Billboards used to always be solid, painted, and unchanging, and television screens in public areas (such as airports or the hallways at large stadiums) could sometimes only display one message. Now, it is extremely common to see billboards that can change their messages several times per minute (vastly expanding the number of advertisements they can display in a given amount of time), or screens scrolling messages that used to have to be posted one at a time, or one per screen. This is how far the digital signage industry has come just in the last few years, and, again, with the spread of wireless Internet, the industry will continue to grow.

Just like anything else that can use a wireless connection, the absence of cables and physical connections essentially signals a massive increase in speed and convenience. Not so long ago, you had to connect your computer by a cable reaching to a phone jack in the wall in order to access the Internet; now, you need only connect wirelessly to the nearest available network to enjoy high-speed, reliable Internet access. It is the same with the digital signage industry. Advertisers and entertainers are now able to mount television screens and other media display mechanisms just about anywhere they want, and can remotely, wirelessly cause messages to run across them. This is just another way that wireless Internet has improved the clarity, scope, and efficiency with which we do things – and the networks and speeds involved are only getting bigger and faster.

Category: Digital Signage Guest Posts

I just read on the digitalsignagearticles.com that a few people have posted a twitter post about an Italian Tax on digital signage. Basically the article is about a tax (100 euro per year per screen/location) that needs to be paid by network operators in Italy to the government. I haven’t really seen that many implementations in Italy but it sounds like their Government is trying to cash in the digital signage industry. Why – because the Government can see that $$$ and revenues businesses are making from advertising on digital screens.

I’m pretty sure that this digital signage TAX will flow through many of our countries and operator or the owners of the screens will be expected to pay the government for having a screen at the front of their store facing the public areas.

So let’s start a poll to see what your responses are.

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Are there any countries that are currently paying for digital signage Tax?

Feel free to submit your answer as a comment.

Category: Digital Signage Blog News

When it comes to protecting your investment, physical security should be considered for any digital signage installation. Whether its for outdoor or indoor purposes, enclosures are the best form of physical protection. We previously touched upon some of the other security considerations in two of our previous posts called “How secure is your digital signage solution?” and “Secure your digital signage solution – here’s why“.

Enclosures are primarily designed to protect the display screens from:

• the environment – direct sunlight or extreme weather can cause damage to the screen
• theft – fortunately we haven’t come across this situation but I’m sure others around the world have experience this
• physical damage – vandalism is quite common in public areas continue reading »

Category: Digital Signage Blog Info

I just finished reading an article from TechDirt and was shocked to find out how much the yearly licensing fees are for playing music in a nightclub or a restaurant. Here is a short extract from the article:

“It wants to increase licensing fees in a 120-seat restaurant to $19,344 a year — up from $125. Small cafes would be slugged with a 4729 per cent yearly increase from $124 to $5860.”

Source: http://techdirt.com/articles/20090615/0329305236.shtml

For those digital signage businesses who provide their clients with a digital signage solution that plays music in the background, have you considered what legal implications are involved and what the licensing requirements are? Even if your client has paid for the music clips or videos!

In Australia, retail stores that play music – whether from the radio, purchased CDs, computers, digital signage are required to pay a licensing fee otherwise it may be considered breaching copyright laws and eventually be fined thousands of dollars.

Now we all know that music can set the mood and atmosphere in your store, nightclub, restaurant or cafe but did you know that you may have to pay a licensing fee for playing music in your business environment or anywhere in public areas? Basically, if you play music in your store you need to have a PPCA public performance license to play protected sound recordings and an APRA public performance license to play musical and literary works. For more information about this visit https://transactions.business.gov.au/BLIS/musiclicence.aspx

All I can say is, just make sure that if you’re running a business or if you’re installing a digital signage solution with audio for one of your clients make sure you mention these licencing requirements to your client otherwise they (or possibly your business) may end up paying a hefty fine – so don’t risk it.

After thinking about this situation, do you believe a license is required for playing videos of unsigned artists playing original songs from Youtube in your store or business environment?

Feel free to submit your answer as a comment.

Correct me if I’m wrong, but my understanding is that because these artists are unsigned (i.e don’t have a label) the PPCA, or APRA won’t be paying them one cent so why should you pay for the license fee if all you’re playing is songs from these unsigned artists. For example, here’s one of my favourite Youtube R&B groups called LEGACI playing an original song. Keep it up boys.

Category: Digital Signage Blog Info, Digital Signage Blog News, Featured Post