Record Labels: Radio Doesn't Sell CDs
When the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) isn't busy
suing kids for piracy, it's out looking for ways to make up for
quarter after quarter of sickly CD sales.
Its new plan is to collect more copyright royalties from radio.
Already this year, the RIAA was instrumental in getting dramatically
higher royalty rates for Internet radio stations passed by the
Copyright Royalty Board. Now it's going after the old-school
terrestrial radio stations. The RIAA will try to change the law so
that traditional broadcast radio stations pay performance royalties
for the songs they play, the LA Times reports.
Broadcast radio stations have long enjoyed a federal exemption from
paying the fees, based on the common belief that radio helps sell
records. The RIAA is now saying, in effect, that it doesn't believe in
the promotional power of radio. It just wants the money.
This move touches directly the struggle of Net radio stations against
their new royalty rates increase, which is set to go into effect July
15. One of Net Radio's main arguments in Washington has been that
webcasters are forced to pay performance royalties while traditional
broadcast stations do not. So much for that.
Who knows if the RIAA will have the lobbying chops to get the
terrestrial radio stations' royalties exemption lifted. They'll have
to square off against the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB),
which represents both TV and radio broadcasters, and has an equally
strong lobby in the Capital.
Of course the RIAA's mantra remains that it's only acting on behalf of
artists. It chooses its public-facing spokespeople accordingly. This
time it's even drug out an old Supreme, Mary Wilson, to cry (baby blue
make-up running under boom lights) about having to keep on playing
Indian bingo palaces at 63 because she never gets a taste of the those
sweet radio royalties.
"The creation of music is suffering because of declining sales," moans
RIAA Chief Executive Mitch Bainwol in the LA Times piece.
It's true that the RIAA's SoundExchange does collect royalties for
artist-copyright owners. But c'mon. If you've had any direct dealings
with record labels (as I have), you know that recording contracts are
set up so that the artists are usually the last ones to get paid.
Sometimes the artist ends up owing money to the label. So give me a
break with that "we represent artists" stuff.
The reason the RIAA set up SoundExchange in the first place was to
collect revenues for its member labels. And the labels, not the
artists, are certainly behind this new (desperate) tactic, too.
http://blogs.pcworld.com/staffblog/archives/004458.html
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