From: musicdish@gmail.com   
      
   "They have to keep commodifying things to keep the share price up, but in   
   doing so, they have made all content, including music and newspapers,   
   worthless, in order to make their billions. And this is what we want?" - Thom   
   Yorke, Radiohead   
      
   The music industry has undergone a massive transformation over the past 20   
   years, as consumers and corporations increasingly favor digital distribution   
   over physical music mediums. However, as CD sales dwindle and digital   
   streaming services grow, music    
   publishers and songwriters are paying the price.   
      
   Until 1998, digital rights were unregulated, resulting in publishers and   
   songwriters receiving zero royalties for the use of their work on the   
   internet, including downloads, audio streaming, video streaming, and satellite   
   radio. The Digital Millennium    
   Copyright Act (DMCA) was implemented to prevent internet resources and   
   platforms from continuing this practice, to ensure that copyright owners were   
   paid for the use of their work in digital formats. At the same time, the   
   infamously low rates paid by    
   streaming services continue to threaten the livelihood of songwriters, as they   
   receive a minuscule fraction of the royalties they earn from traditional   
   radio, television, and physical music sales.   
      
   The music streaming business has grown dramatically over the past few years,   
   now passing the milestone of 100 million paying subscribers globally. Reports   
   indicate that the U.S. music industry is on track to experience a second   
   consecutive year of growth,   
    which hasn't occurred since 1999. And this expansion shows no signs of   
   slowing down. In fact, Goldman Sachs predicts that streaming revenues will   
   almost double between now and 2020. However, the National Music Publishers'   
   Association (NMPA) reports that    
   for every $6 streaming companies pay to record labels, songwriters and   
   publishers only receive approximately $1.   
      
   The Dangers of Safe Harbors   
      
   Another massive complication in the fair distribution of digital royalties is   
   the exploitation of the DMCA's "safe harbor" provisions. The concept is to   
   protect online service providers from liability for copyright infringements by   
   their website users,    
   provided that they promptly remove content when a copyright owner informs them   
   of infringement. However, many music industry experts believe that YouTube,   
   one of the largest purveyors of on-demand digital music, evades paying fair   
   market rates for the    
   use of copyrighted content by exploiting the DMCA's safe harbor. According to   
   a report by the Phoenix Center for Advanced Legal & Economic Public Policy   
   Studies, market-based royalties for subscription-based services are   
   approximately eight times higher    
   than those paid by YouTube.   
      
   Research indicates that music accounts for 40 percent of YouTube's views,   
   clearly making it a vital component of its platform and advertising revenues.   
   However, it appears that the music recording industry is losing out due to   
   distortions in the market    
   permitted by the current regulations. According to industry data, a   
   subscription music service pays the recording industry approximately $0.008   
   per song play, while YouTube pays only about $0.001 for the same play.   
   On-demand services like YouTube are    
   taking advantage of safe harbor permissions to negotiate licenses at an   
   unfairly low rate based on a split of advertising revenue, thereby treating   
   music as a commodity and avoiding the fixed per-play royalties typically seen   
   for streaming services.   
      
   Taking It To Court   
      
   While it's encouraging to discover that the U.S. music industry is   
   experiencing growth if artists aren't paid fairly for the use of their work on   
   streaming services and other digital platforms, how can they earn a reasonable   
   living that will enable them    
   to continue creating music? Fortunately, there may be a light at the end of   
   the tunnel. The U.S. Copyright Royalty Board (CRB) is currently determining   
   details of the country's mechanical royalty rates for the next five years, and   
   the global music    
   community is joining together to rally for a positive outcome. As streaming   
   increasingly becomes a primary method for the distribution of music, the   
   results of these proceedings are crucial for rights owners.   
      
   The NMPA, along with the Nashville Songwriters Association International   
   (NSAI), are acting on behalf of a united music community in an attempt to   
   increase the rates paid to artists by streaming services. On the other side,   
   technology companies like    
   Apple, Spotify, Google, and Pandora are presenting their arguments as to why   
   these rates should be kept at such a low level. For streaming services, the   
   NMPA and NSAI propose a determination based on a per-stream rate, or on a   
   percentage of advertising/   
   subscription revenues, or both. Following the completion of the hearings, the   
   CRB has until December 15, 2017, to determine the rates that will be in place   
   for the next five years.   
      
   Pledging to work "to achieve better, fairer royalty rates for all songwriters   
   and music publishers," the NMPA is asking the CRB "to adopt a structure that   
   recognizes the inherent value of a song, the value of a subscriber's payment   
   to access those songs,    
   and all of the revenue that digital services generate from offering your   
   music."   
      
   The NMPA and NSAI urged songwriters to put their name on an open letter to the   
   technology giants and big streaming platforms. "As songwriters, we count on   
   you to deliver our music to the fans who love it," the letter says. "We   
   appreciate the innovative    
   platforms you have developed to do this. However we must voice our outrage at   
   the way you are devaluing our work in the process. Currently, you are fighting   
   to pay us as little as possible in the Copyright Royalty Board proceedings.   
   This is alarming not    
   only because it threatens our livelihoods and ability to continue our craft,   
   but also because it tells us that instead of being our business partners, you   
   choose to be our adversaries."   
      
   Over 4,000 songwriters have signed the petition to the CRB, including Bruce   
   Hornsby, Herb Alpert, Paula Cole and Desmond Child.   
      
   Choose Your Partners Wisely   
      
   It's clear that some corporations use music to attract consumers, but   
   unfortunately, they remain reluctant to pay royalties to support the music   
   industry. Although the digital revolution is helping large technology   
   companies and streaming services thrive,   
    the distribution of digital royalties remains complex, with rights owners   
   being underpaid for their work.   
      
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)