One Of Many Online Music Royalty Rates Settled (For Now)

from the keeping-it-straight dept

Tue, Sep 23rd 2008 9:38pm — Mike Masnick

The copyright system was never designed for modern technology -- which is why every time some new technology comes along, there are all these legal battles until some awful patch (often in the form of compulsory licensing) is applied. However, because there have been so many new technology changes over the years, and so many different people demanding a piece of the pie, these days the compulsory licensing and royalty process for any sort of music licensing is so complex that almost no one can actually understand what's going on. At any moment there are a bunch of different battles over the various rates that should be used, and over whether or not they apply to some new technology. One of those many battles has come to at least a temporary settlement, as seven years of fighting over mechanical royalty rates on interactive streaming and limited download services have been agreed to by all parties involved. The RIAA put out some PR happy quote about how this will "support innovative business models." Sorry, but when you're talking about a seven-year dispute to work out these rates, you've probably already killed off those innovative business models.

Filed Under: compulsory licensing, copyright, music, royalties

7 Comments

If you liked this post, you may also be interested in...

Reader Comments

Subscribe: RSS

View by: Time | Thread

Anonymous Coward, 23 Sep 2008 @ 11:18pm

This seems good step. It's not an endpoint, but what is reasonable? The problem has been infrastructure for royalties hasn't been in place.

[shrug]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Pandora RIP, 24 Sep 2008 @ 12:10am

Its too late for some.
As we all know, Pandora will be closing its doors soon. So yes the RIAA wants to look like the good guy, but they have already killed the online streaming market.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
- Matt, 24 Sep 2008 @ 6:01am
  
  Re: Its too late for some.
  maybe we'll get lucky and pandora will play the smart move aka source themselves to piratebay or something.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
thanatos, 24 Sep 2008 @ 12:15am

If it keeps Pandora around for a little while longer, i'll be content for now. RIAA Demise or severe reformation is considered happiness.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Matt Bennett, 24 Sep 2008 @ 6:54am

Does this affect Pandora at all?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Keith Jolie, 24 Sep 2008 @ 7:08am

Interesting lack of reaction
I find it interesting that when Mike posts something to do with downloading music for free it spawns a large response of comments related to how music should be free and that it's marketing for the artists and so on as well as the opposite side of the argument.

This is somewhat more controversial (imho) in that this is a tax (for all intent and purpose) on internet music stations (and similar) by the licensing body in the US, and it is doubtful that much of this money will actually get to artists and yet there is very little in the way of comments (save the 5 preceding comments)

I guess if the money isn't coming out of your pocket?

I am opposed to this fee more than others for the simple reason that radio stations (real and virtual) actually do a lot of good towards promoting artists...so
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
- Anonymous Coward, 24 Sep 2008 @ 7:12am
  
  Re: Interesting lack of reaction
  the ....so at the end of this comment was an inmission (my word for leaving something in, that was not intentional)
  
  cheers,
  
  K
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]