A war is brewing over the royalties that the recording industry wants U.S. radio stations to pay for the right to play music. And though the fight has gone nowhere in the past, changes in the entertainment world could alter the outcome this time.
The battle centers on so-called "performance royalties." Radio stations already pay publishing royalties to songwriters or whoever owns the rights to a song's underlying composition and lyrics. But they've never been required to pay performance royalties, even though their counterparts in other industrialized countries do. Now the recording industry wants them to pony up.
While it is impossible to put a figure on what getting the performance rights might mean to the beleaguered recording industry, the $300 million a year the National Association of Broadcasters estimates radio stations already pay in publishing royalties offer a sense of scale.
http://www.forbes.com/media/2007/05/29/radio-xm-karmazin-biz-media_cx_lh_0530royalties.html
The battle centers on so-called "performance royalties." Radio stations already pay publishing royalties to songwriters or whoever owns the rights to a song's underlying composition and lyrics. But they've never been required to pay performance royalties, even though their counterparts in other industrialized countries do. Now the recording industry wants them to pony up.
While it is impossible to put a figure on what getting the performance rights might mean to the beleaguered recording industry, the $300 million a year the National Association of Broadcasters estimates radio stations already pay in publishing royalties offer a sense of scale.
http://www.forbes.com/media/2007/05/29/radio-xm-karmazin-biz-media_cx_lh_0530royalties.html