SUBSIM Radio Room Forums - View Single Post - House Bill Would Set Internet Radio Royalties Equal to Satellite

tycho102 · 05-25-07, 12:39 PM

I posted something remotely related to this, a few weeks ago.

The RIAA also has sponsored a bill allowing them to collect royalities for all music played on satellite, intartube, and radio......for any band or group that is not otherwise "signed" with a production corporation. Basically, they just don't want to get sued by another corporation. But they're still billing for royalities even if you are the actual playwright and performer, and have not authorized them to collect royalities for you.

I felt it was a significant issue because it won't be long before they'll sue you for illegally distributing your music for free, endangering their ability to collect royalities.

Both of these events are related because Sony-BMG, Columbia, Universal, etc are seeing reduced profit-margins. Smaller profit-margins means investors (and your shareholder's board) start looking at other corporations in which to invest. Thus, they're looking for any untested form of income, the best of which is completely free -- to the extent it doesn't require doing anything different than just extorting more money from people who are already doing other forms of business with you and might be intimidated into avoiding a lawsuit.

05-25-07, 12:39 PM	#5
tycho102 Ace of the Deep Join Date: May 2005 Posts: 1,100 Downloads: 0 Uploads: 0	I posted something remotely related to this, a few weeks ago. The RIAA also has sponsored a bill allowing them to collect royalities for *all* music played on satellite, intartube, and radio......for any band or group that is not otherwise "signed" with a production corporation. Basically, they just don't want to get sued by another corporation. But they're still billing for royalities even if you are the actual playwright and performer, and have not authorized them to collect royalities for you. I felt it was a significant issue because it won't be long before they'll sue you for illegally distributing your music for free, endangering their ability to collect royalities. Both of these events are related because Sony-BMG, Columbia, Universal, etc are seeing reduced profit-margins. Smaller profit-margins means investors (and your shareholder's board) start looking at other corporations in which to invest. Thus, they're looking for any untested form of income, the best of which is completely free -- to the extent it doesn't require doing anything different than just extorting more money from people who are already doing other forms of business with you and might be intimidated into avoiding a lawsuit.