[Fmpro] Online Music Stores Protest Additional Download Royalties

[JJB]

Does this mean that ASCAP is finally doing the "right" thing about  
digital downloads?

Joel


On Mar 1, 2007, at 6:00 AM, Dana from Serious Vanity Music wrote:

>> From digitalmusicnews.com:
>
> Online Music Stores Protest Additional Download Royalties
>
> As the paid download continues to grow, fresh battles are emerging  
> over how
> royalties should be counted.  Just this week, a consortium of  
> online music
> providers - including Yahoo, Apple, and AOL - pushed back against  
> an effort
> to qualify paid downloads as a public performance.  The group,  
> represented
> by the Digital Media Association, or DiMA, filed an amicus curiae  
> (friend of
> the court) brief opposing a claim by ASCAP that digital music  
> downloads
> should be counted as performances. This May, ASCAP will try to  
> convince a
> federal court that the mere transfer of a digital file, even if  
> that file is
> never opened, constitutes a performance and thus is subject to  
> additional
> licensing fees and royalties.  DiMA calls that "double dipping,"  
> and alleges
> that fees are already being paid through traditional channels.  In the
> brief, DiMA lambasted the claim and called for the court to reject it.
> "ASCAP's assertion in federal court that digital distributions of  
> music and
> video are also public
> performances confounds legal, business and technological reality,"  
> said DiMA
> executive director Jonathan Potter.
>
> Agreements related to physical media were (mostly) hashed out long  
> ago, but
> the arrival of digital formats have sparked a continued and  
> confusing land
> grab.  The current trial was initiated by ASCAP, pursuant to a US  
> Government
> decree to set reasonable royalty rates between the association and  
> several
> online vendors.  The DiMA brief follows opposing submissions by other
> organizations, including the RIAA and wireless group CTIA.   
> Additionally,
> several other organizations co-signed the DiMA filing, including the
> National Association of Recording Merchandisers (NARM) and the  
> Consumer
> Electronics Association (CEA).
>
> Story by news analyst Richard Menta.
>
> Permalink: http://www.digitalmusicnews.com/stories/022807dima
>
> Dana Detrick-Clark
> Serious Vanity Music
> http://www.seriousvanity.com
>
>
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