Copyright Law

RIAA trying to get songwriter royalties lowered

By Ty Rogers and Ray Beckerman

Lest there be anyone left who believes the RIAA's propaganda that its litigation campaign is intended to benefit the 'creators' of the music, Hollywood Reporter reports that the RIAA is asking the Copyright Royalty Board to lower songwriter royalties on song file downloads, from the present rate of 9 cents per song -- which translates to about 13% of the wholesale price -- down to 8% of the wholesale price, or around 5 1/2 cents per song.

Meanwhile, the big digital music companies, such as Apple, want the royalty rate lowered even more, to something like 4% of wholesale, or less than 3 cents per song.

So any representations by any of these companies that they are concerned for the 'creators' of the music, should be taken with a grain -- er, truckload -- of salt.

Keywords: digital copyright law online internet law legal download upload peer to peer p2p file sharing filesharing music movies indie independent label freeculture creative commons pop/rock artists riaa independent mp3 cd favorite songs intellectual property

Full post as published by Recording Industry vs The People on February 04, 2008 (boomark / email).