Copyright Royalty Board Keeps Download Rates The Same; iTunes 'Saved'
from the compulsory-mess dept
I tend to think the whole concept of compulsory license rates in the music space is rather backwards. There are a bunch of different rates for all different participants, and it's basically the opposite of letting a market work. It's the government setting a handout rate for many different groups who don't want to create their own business model. The whole process serves to significantly hold back a number of new and innovative business models by letting many to rely on the government to effectively set their revenue for them. That said, one of the worst things is that a single decision by whoever sets the royalties can completely change how an industry works with a single vote. Earlier this week, we noted that Apple was threatening to shutter iTunes if the Copyright Royalty Board raised the rates for publishers on downloads. The threat was probably pretty baseless, but apparently it worked. The CRB has kept rates the same, which is going to upset many songwriters and publishers.Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
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Filed Under: compulsory licensing, copyright, downloads, itunes, music, publishers, royalties, songwriters
Companies: apple
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now if only that tactic worked for webradio
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Traffic Lights
"It's the government setting a handout rate for many different groups who don't want to create their own business model."
I think I'll sleep on that and dream about the thousand million gazillion times we hope that's true, or not true, er, well, er...
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Re: Traffic Lights
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More deregulation?
How could you trust these groups to set rates that would encourage innovative businesses without government intervention? They seem much more interested in keeping rates high to keep the number of media services low and under control.
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I don't get it...
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Re: I don't get it...
If that cut was hiked Apple would either have to absorb the cost or pass it on to its customers. Its anyones guess how tight iTunes margins are, or if they make any significant profit from it.
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Re: Re: I don't get it...
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Re: I don't get it...
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Re: Re: I don't get it...
Its not that surprising that digital retailers get different rules to highstreet retailers.
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Power Too Far
...the power of the RIAA and other media cartels.
It wasn't two or three that took Motown down. There's a dozen the same. At RIAA's beginning, there were faces. I worry RIAA has become big enough to hide them. I resent the way it was done and that's enough to annoy me.
Please lift the towel and wet these guys. Keep them wet. Nude wet until we learn RIAA enough to see it and decide and desert what's wrong and grow what's right.
These are not power unless we're not. :-|
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Mike's right on this one
The same thing is going on here, as you have different rates for TerraRadio's, then INet Radios, Satellite Radios, and finally downloading sites. This is completely wrong, and someone should bother to make that point in court. Or course, if they do, then the CRB would just say, "FINE, everyone pays the exact same rate." Which would then close down many of the non-terra radios/downloads.
We'll see if Congress has a little more backbone to deal with this issue after the November Elections.
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Slightly wrong...
Don't you mean... we'll see if the lobbying groups don't pay off the right people after the November Elections...
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Lobbyists + politicians
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Too old to understand
I guess they would get increased sales and more profit.
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This is what I heard
If there's anyone to get upset about with the whole deal is the recording companies for not taking a cut and letting the artists have more.
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Re: This is what I heard
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Re: Re: This is what I heard
But either way - it's still the record companies, that are supposed to be looking after their artists - that refuse to take a lesser cut of a percentage.
And it should be their responsiblity to take a profit cut if there was going to be one. It's not fair to make iTunes to take the cut, nor the customer to pay more, since it's their agent (ie. the artist) that should be paid more.
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