A US District Court has ruled AOL, RealNetworks, and Yahoo should pay license fees that could amount to as much as $100 million to ASCAP and its membership for songs which they streamed to users from 2002 until now. The ruling also includes payment for use until 2009.
Sounds good on paper. The little guy wins, right?
Look, I think songwriters deserve to be paid. I live in Nashville and own a publishing company! But since the rate will likely be more than what is paid by traditional broadcast radio stations, my opinion is that it will make it more difficult for anyone to play music online in the future, which will mean nobody gets paid.
So how is this good for the music business?
I'm not sure what ASCAP's point is here. I already get paid directly by AOL and Real for play (I don't think Yahoo is playing me unless it's under a different name). But I doubt I will actually see any of the money ASCAP collects, lol.
Are ASCAP's license rates published anywhere? I play a lot of unlicensed little cafes etc., and wanted to encourage them to get licensed so I can file those shows in my ASCAPLUS application - but I need to know if what I'm asking the cafes to do is reasonable. So I asked ASCAP how they set license fees for small live venues. And (no surprise) got no answer at all - not even "we won't tell you that."
So much for a member-owned PRO, lol.
Posted by: Doctor Oakroot | May 02, 2008 at 08:10 AM
Could someone elaborate on this? What does this mean for those of us trying to use the internet to expose our music? Will this make it more difficult to get our stuff played? As far as I can tell, what we want to happen is to get the stuff out there so the right people can hear it and perhaps buy it.
Posted by: Joseph | May 02, 2008 at 10:17 AM
I have received airplay, due to the glory of syndication, on 500+ radio stations. ASCAP has paid me $7... once. I've spoken with them as to why and been told, repeatedly, that I did not receive enough airplay to register in the few months per year that they actually PAY FOR. In this age of technology, ASCAP & BMI should be paying their songwriters for EVERY SONG PLAYED. The radio stations report every song played. WHY AREN'T WE GETTING PAID FOR THEM?
ASCAP is getting $100 million dollars from AOL? Trust me... Indie songwriters won't see a penny.
JULIAN aKa CCG Pop Superhero
http://www.CookieCutterGirl.com
Posted by: JULIAN | May 06, 2008 at 07:55 PM
We will never see this money.
Posted by: Hip-Hop | May 11, 2008 at 09:17 AM