Tuesday, July 10, 2007

SoundExchange Only Cares About the Labels?

Are SoundExchange and RIAA trying to screw the artists and only interested in (re)building a business for the 4 major record labels? I can't say for sure, but Kurt Hanson lays out a very interesting theory. Below is just an excerpt... I recommend you read the whole thing...


RAIN: Radio And Internet Newsletter: "If webcasters had in fact accepted SoundExchange's proposed 'solution' from last week, what soundexelse could AOL Radio do in 2008 but accept? They'd be looking at bankruptcy otherwise... and they'd be prevented from going to Congress for help!

So in offering to discount AOL Radio's royalty obligation from $66 million to $24 million, the big four labels could not only get increased airplay for their priority acts, but they could actually increase their royalty take an additional 20%! Sweet!

But because it's not a statutory license, the artists would GET NOTHING!

And as for the independent labels, most of them want airplay. If this scenario plays out as I've hypothesized, the conditions that the major labels impose on webcasters might leave little room on station playlists for indie-label product anyway,riaa so I would bet that the indies would eventually start offering waivers — i.e., 'Play our music and we won't charge you any royalties.' In that event, they would also GET NOTHING!"

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