[Fmpro] ALL residuals ???

[Mark Northam]

Hi Chris -

Good points. Much of this has yet to be worked out, but the ASCAP ruling was
pretty clear in terms of downloads and ephemeral copies (temporary copies
made during the process of downloading by server(s) in the path) of works. I
wish the arguments were more centered on technology as you mentioned, but
they seem to be mired in politics.

My biggest concern is that the same people who think our music is worth 20
cents on the dollar for a one minute score cue vs. a one minute song cue are
the ones who are, behind closed doors, trying to work this all out. It's
clear that composers are not equally represented in these situations, and I
for one am not ready to have today's discriminatory policies as practiced by
ASCAP and others become tomorrow's discriminatory policies for instrumental
music in downloads. Just because today's generation of composers chooses not
to object to these obviously discriminatory rates shouldn't mean that the
next generation of composers should be saddled with them as we were.

It's time to end the discrimination and adopt a level playing field for
music royalties. We at least owe that much to our children and the next
generation of composers to make sure they don't have to suffer with the same
blatant inequalities and prejudices that are the hallmark of the current PRO
distribution system when it comes to the rates paid for a minute of score
vs. a minute of song by the PROs. I realize I mention this a lot, but I
believe now is the time we need to start getting these policies changed, not
after they've already been "decided on" by the ASCAP Board and others who
meet in secret and apparently are more concerned with preserving the
prejudices of the past rather than adopting any serious reforms.

Best,

Mark Northam


On 5/15/07 9:45 AM, "Chris Alpiar" <chris at alpiar.com> wrote:

> Actually Mark I don't think its exactly as you are perceiving it. The court
> ruled that technically a download is not a performance, which technically it
> is not. 2 machines communicated and until the end user opens the file to
> hear it, it isn't a performance. That needed to be clarified for if say, in
> peer to peer downloading, one can connect to 10, 15 or more peers to
> download different segments of the same file, so if, strictly, a download is
> a performance and every download must be paid out as such, a peer to peer
> service could pay 15 or more times for the same end performance, or a
> middle-tier computer system that is just transferring data for storage even,
> must pay as if it's a end user listening.
> 
> What needs to happen is a new agreement on how the actual performance is
> tracked and paid out on. This is a time to really understand how a download
> works, what really is involved in the nitty gritty with TCP/IP protocol and
> other ways of downloading, how streaming really works and its differences,
> and if indeed the download is not a performance then how do we get paid
> based on that *most* of those downloads are people with "intent to
> view/listen to the performance" and also that once they have downloaded a
> work there *is* no current means of tracking ubiquitously. In that case,
> while we can agree that a download is not necessarily a performance, since
> there is no other means currently of knowing when that work is performed,
> that the download still should be paid out as a performance...
> 
> iTunes (before they changed just recently) was the closest thing to a
> responsible way to deal with intellectual property and downloads. They let
> you buy the download and gave you (encoded in the media) ability to copy
> that song/work 5 times before you had to purchase another license. The
> licence was associated with your iTunes account and that file specifically.
> The failure was that MP3s are still out there and other formats and the
> average 12 year old knows more about how to copy and find them then any
> lawyer at ascap. 
> 
> The only way we are ever going to have 100% complete control over internet
> downloads is by the creation of a new format of media file that is encrypted
> and encoded with a key that is monitored and policed by a central and global
> enforcing agency that is not corporate and is not of one nation. A United
> Nations of the internet that handles fairly all matters. Too bad its already
> 12 years too late, but it is the only real way
> 
> Chris
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: fmpro-bounces+chris=alpiar.com at nxport.com
> [mailto:fmpro-bounces+chris=alpiar.com at nxport.com] On Behalf Of Mark Northam
> Sent: Tuesday, May 15, 2007 12:12 PM
> To: fmpro at nxport.com
> Subject: Re: [Fmpro] ALL residuals ???
> 
> These two statements seem to be contradictory - either the labels support,
> or don't support paying performing rights on downloads.
> 
> In the US, the RIAA - the recording industry lobbying group - made it 100%
> clear that they do NOT support performing rights on downloads, and were one
> of the strongest legal forces that opposed ASCAP's court case. As we know,
> ASCAP lost that case, and the precedent it has now set, unless it's
> successfully appealed or overturned, could be disastrous for composers.
> 
> Best,
> 
> Mark Northam
> 
> 
> On 5/15/07 1:47 AM, "Lynne T. Conte" <profwoman4u2 at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
>> I guess a recording company will agree and support payment of publishing
>> because recording companies think that performing rights would cut down
> the
>> share in the download pie.  I suppose that a recording company prefers to
>> pay the performing right, pay the percentage of mechanical rights and keep
>> the rest, and do not want to include performing in which they do not get a
>> big piece.
> 
> 
> 
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