Loading ...True Love Exists Between The RIAA And Its Artists
By Evan ~ February 5th, 2008. Filed under: world news.
I don’t think I’ve ever quoted The Hollywood Reporter in one of my news critiques, and quite frankly I’m a bit weary of any source with the word “Hollywood” in its title, but the link to this story came from Slashdot, so I’m optimistic that it is a legitimate story.
The Recording Industry wants songwriter royalties lowered. As further proof that the music industry cares fuck-all about music and only about its rapidly thinning pockets, “music publishers, the record labels and digital music distribution outlets began a three-way legal wrestling match Monday over just how much songwriters and the publishing houses should get paid for digitally delivered music.”
The RIAA, those good Samaritans, those purveyors of truth, those propagandists trying to convince us all that their multi-million-dollar lawsuits against grandmothers and children are intended to benefit the ‘creators’ of the music being illegally downloaded across the Internet, are asking the Copyright Royalty Board to lower songwriter royalties from the current 9 cents per song downloaded (about 13% of the wholesale price) down to 8% of the wholesale price. While less than one-half of one cent might not seem like a big deal to you, keep in mind that those 9 cents are usually split 50/50 between the publisher and the songwriter. So, really, it’s more like 4.5 cents per song. I implore you to look at the big picture and see the obnoxiously greedy assholes working for the RIAA for what they really are.
The RIAA is not acting on this alone. Yahoo and Napster, have both voiced concern that the people who actually create the content they are overcharging for are making WAY too much money with that generous 4.5 cents per download.
An Even bigger culprit (if you can believe it), is the greatly beloved iTunes Store, and the folks at Apple, who want the royalty lowered to roughly 4% of wholesale. Again, the loss of almost one cent does not seem like much, unless you’re an artist trying to make a living doing what you love, but hey…I’m sure 4.05 cents per download is plenty for most songwriters, especially if the song being downloaded is credited to a full band. For a standard four-piece band, the songwriter(s) would — under the Apple plan — get a shiny penny each time their song is downloaded!
Considering Apple just surpassed 4 billion songs downloaded on January 15th, I’m pretty sure they’re not hurting for an extra one cent. And on behalf of every artist who has a song available for purchase on iTunes, I emphatically ask that you stop purchasing songs or albums from the iTunes store and use some alternate method that puts more money in the pockets of the creators that Apple, Yahoo, Napster, and the RIAA seem so desperate to “help”.
If I may be so bold as to quote myself (from the post entitled “Everything Bono Touches Turns to Turds”), “Here’s my advice for those of you who download music illegally. If you want to support an artist, go to their website and buy a t-shirt or two, some buttons, a bumper sticker, or whatever they have to offer that isn’t an LP. Go see them live. Then download the album illegally. Using MySpace or the band’s website contact information, send them an e-mail telling them why you’ve chosen this route. Remember: if you buy an LP from an artist’s website, you’re still paying the record company because most bands have to buy their own albums at full price (without the retail markup, but that’s usually only a handful of coinage) before they can sell them. Those t-shirt sales will likely enable to the band to make a bit more money than album sales would, and you’ll feel slightly better about hearing the music at no cost. If you hold grudges against bands for aligning with a label you loathe, disregard everything I just said, and continue downloading to your little heart’s content.”
