Another way for the Corporate Music biggies to make a buck yet again, they don't care who pays, they want all of us to pay for it and keep paying...

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QUOTE>"Webcasters have long argued that excessive licensing makes running Net radio uncompetitive against the traditional radio stations that in some countries, such as United States, don't pay anything at all to record labels."

I thought US radio stations made payments to BMI and/or ASCAP for artist and performance royalties? Anybody know the answer on that one?

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GrayArea: They pay only for composers and songwriters as far as I know, not for artists or labels.

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ASCAP and BMI traditionally were the only royalty collection agencies in the U.S., but then the record companies wanted a cut of the action. Thanks to lobbying by the RIAA, the copyright office decided to enact legislation to institute sound recording performance licencing in addition to ASCAP and BMI. This would allow record companies to take advantage of the growing popularity of the Internet to make a hefty profit (but reading closer, it appears more like it's a retribution for the losses they claim to have incurred due to Internet filesharing).

We will just forget about the fact, therefore, that the Internet is the only medium in which public performance of music requires sound recording licensing (and is slapped with rates that are highly unrealistic, esp. for hobbiests.)

--Randall

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