Crain's New York Business - December 17, 2012 - (Page 3)

BMI faces the music IN THE BOROUGHS QUEENS Queens may yet take the High Line Superstorm Sandy stokes debate over fate of old RR line BY KERRY MURTHA A half-century after the last commuter train ran along a 3.5-mile stretch of track connecting central Queens to the Rockaway peninsula, the fate of the badly deteriorated right of way that remains has suddenly become a hot topic. In recent years, a local group has pointed to the huge success of a similar, long-abandoned rail line on Manhattan’s West Side and floated the idea of a quasi Queens High Line. They envision an elevated linear park replete with bike paths, pedestrian walkways and community gardens— a magnet for exciting new restaurants and other developments, just like the original in Manhattan. Others have a different vision. They want to reLIRR’S store the line to ROCKAWAY provide a better, BRANCH faster connection between Rockaway and midtown ManYEARS in hattan. In the afoperation termath of Superstorm Sandy, that argument LENGTH in miles has taken on a whole new urgency. “We need ESTIMATED COST better transof reactivation portation,” said Lew Simon, a Democratic district leader and chairman for the Rockaway Transit Coalition. “I will fight to the end for it.” The battle involves one of the city’s longest tracts of unused land— a remnant of the Long Island Rail Road’s Rockaway Beach branch line that once extended 4.2 miles, all the way from Rego Park to Rockaway. In recent decades, it has become home to overgrown brush, garbage and graffiti. Service on the line was derailed in 1962 by a decline in ridership and fires on the wooden bridge spanning Jamaica Bay. The city bought the line’s southern end, running from Rockaway to Ozone Park, and eventually connected it to the subway system. Today it is the last leg of the A train, which travels from Rockaway through Brooklyn into Manhattan and is the principal mass-transit link to and from the peninsula. North of that point, only the right of way remains, weaving through Howard Beach, Ozone HUMMING ALONG: Del Bryant, the CEO of BMI, makes sure songwriters get paid when their work is performed. buck ennis Licensing agency hit by same technological shifts that are roiling rest of music world BY AARON ELSTEIN Mariah Carey has sold 200 million albums and has regularly been rated as having one of the best voices in pop music. But she seemed genuinely touched when she was honored in September for her success in writing songs. “This is something I didn’t really expect. All my life I’ve been a songwriter. Even as a little girl I was writing poetry,” she said before an awards ceremony in Beverly Hills. “Being acknowledged for songwriting is awesome.” Later, Ms. Carey took the stage and wiped away tears when she was handed a large silver cup by a man in a pinstriped suit. “Del, thank you so much,” she said. The Del was Del Bryant, chief executive of Broadcast Music Inc., better known as BMI, which is one of the country’s two major musiclicensing organizations. His job is making sure Ms. Carey and hundreds of thousands of lesserknown songwriters get paid every time their work is performed on radio, online, television, in a bar or most anywhere else. “BMI is about recognition, a paycheck, a livelihood,” said Mr. Bryant, 64, a son of Nashville songwriters who penned such immortal tunes as “Wake Up, Little Susie” and “Love Hurts.” “I remember my parents dancing to the mailbox to get their checks.” It’s a big question whether songwriters will be dancing to the mailbox in the future. Last month, BMI disclosed that royalty payments to its 575,000 songwriters and publishers fell by $50 million last year, to $750 million, as revenue slipped by 3%, to $900 million—the first drop in BMI’s revenue in more than 20 years.Experts say it’s a sign the technological changes that ravaged the record and radio industries are now reaching into the economic ecosystem that has sustained See BMI on Page 23 90 4.2 $500M NYC e-commerce ascends Forget social media; VC funds flow to startups that actually might make money BY MATTHEW FLAMM If you’re a startup looking for money, it’s good to be in e-commerce. Venture capitalists, turned off by cool-sounding tech firms with hazy paths to profitability, have been favoring businesses with straightforward revenue models. Investors at every stage are becoming more focused on the bottom line. That has meant putting money CB Insights has counted 271 into startups serving businesses with VC deals for e-commerce compadata-analytics solutions or varia- nies in the U.S. though Dec. 10, tions on cloud-based computing. compared with 219 in all of 2011. But particularly in New York, that And though total third-quarter VC bottom-line focus has also brought a funding was down 5%, compared boost to e-commerce with the year-earlier pecompanies—a growing riod, to $7.5 billion, area of strength in the funding for e-commerce city’s tech economy. firms was up 14%, to “[VCs] want to see $623 million. actual monetary metrics, Drawing on Manhatnot just how many tan’s role as a capital of users,” said Jonathan media, fashion and plain Sherry, co-founder of re- BRICK & MORTAR old shopping, online research firm CB Insights. stores are offering tailers have become some treats on sales floors “When you look at e- to bring in customers of the city’s fastestcommerce, you’re look- PAGE 24 growing tech companies. ing at revenue.” Though there have been reports of a bubble in e-commerce funding, and of investors pulling back, the deals haven’t stopped. Two weeks ago, Manhattanbased 1stdibs, which runs an online marketplace for luxury goods,raised $42 million—marking December’s biggest deal yet for a New York City company, according to CB Insights. Other recent deals for local online retailers include $26 million for Fancy, a combo e-store and fashion blog; $20 million for Rent the Runway, an online designer-clothing rental service; $15 million for design shop Fab (which scored $105 million in July) and $12 million for bargain sales site NoMoreRack. See VC MONEY on Page 24 See QUEENS on Page 21 December 17, 2012 | Crain’s New York Business | 3

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Crain's New York Business - December 17, 2012

IN THE BOROUGHS
IN THE MARKETS
THE INSIDER
BUSINESS PEOPLE
CORPORATE LADDER
OPINION
GREG DAVID
ALAIR TOWNSEND
REPORT: SMALL BUSINESS
FOR THE RECORD
CLASSIFIEDS
REAL ESTATE DEALS
NEW YORK, NEW YORK
SOURCE LUNCH
OUT AND ABOUT
SNAPS

Crain's New York Business - December 17, 2012