"Webcasters and over-the-air radio stations already pay composers and music publishers royalties for the music they play, based typically on a percentage of their revenues. But traditional radio broadcasters have been exempt from paying the royalties now being applied to webcasters -- because lawmakers bought the argument that radio stations were promoting the music already. The new royalties, which would go to music labels and musicians, had long been sought unsuccessfully by the recording industry from traditional broadcasters. So the industry turned to webcasters and got its wish in a 1998 law."
"Webcasters and over-the-air radio stations already pay composers and music publishers royalties for the music they play, based typically on a percentage of their revenues.
But traditional radio broadcasters have been exempt from paying the royalties now being applied to webcasters -- because lawmakers bought the argument that radio stations were promoting the music already.
The new royalties, which would go to music labels and musicians, had long been sought unsuccessfully by the recording industry from traditional broadcasters. So the industry turned to webcasters and got its wish in a 1998 law."
"Our performance rights in this country are more limited than they are in most other modern countries around the world," says John Simson, executive director of Sound Exchange, which manages the distribution of digital performance royalties for artists and record labels. "We only have digital cable and satellite rights, we don't have terrestrial radio or television rights, unlike most of the other countries. It's an inequity in US law and it's finally been corrected, at least in some small part." ...But those representing the recording industry argue that this is beside the point. "It's not really our job to figure out their business model, that's their job," says Mr. Simson. "We've just asked that we be paid fair market value for our service." Simson adds that if the smaller broadcasters believe that the proposed royalties would drive them out of business, it may be because they were poorly represented on the panel. Larger players like MTV and Yahoo! had greater influence on the panel. They favor per-play royalty rates.
"Our performance rights in this country are more limited than they are in most other modern countries around the world," says John Simson, executive director of Sound Exchange, which manages the distribution of digital performance royalties for artists and record labels. "We only have digital cable and satellite rights, we don't have terrestrial radio or television rights, unlike most of the other countries. It's an inequity in US law and it's finally been corrected, at least in some small part."
...But those representing the recording industry argue that this is beside the point. "It's not really our job to figure out their business model, that's their job," says Mr. Simson. "We've just asked that we be paid fair market value for our service."
Simson adds that if the smaller broadcasters believe that the proposed royalties would drive them out of business, it may be because they were poorly represented on the panel. Larger players like MTV and Yahoo! had greater influence on the panel. They favor per-play royalty rates.
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