“The federal Copyright Royalty Board left the rate for royalties paid to songwriters for CDs and digital downloads unchanged,” the Associated Press reports.
“The ruling keeps the rate at 9.1 cents per song,” AP reports.
“Apple Inc. had threatened to shutter its iTunes store if an increase in the rate jeopardized its profitability based on a price of 99 cents per song,” AP reports.
Full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Readers “Fred Mertz,” “JES42,” and “MikeK” for the heads up.]
Looks like they thought better of killing the golden goose. Chalk up another win for Steve Jobs and music consumers.
Time for Apple to start a Record Label.
Problem Solved. =P
For those who don’t know…
…there are online “record labels” who will take your music and place it on any/all the online stores such as Apple’s iTunes Music Store and only collect a mere pittance of a percent.
The secret the RIAA has is PLAYING the music on radio stations and Sat. Radio. to get exposure.
Unless you have some cool advertising trick up your sleeve to get people to notice, your music will get drowned in the mass of others trying to do the same thing your doing.
Naturally the way the world economy is going lately, in a downward direction, people are tightening up and not buying iPods, iPhones or even music since the radio is free. Pay as you go cell phones are much cheaper per month.
Save your money, Great Depression 2 is coming, like a slow rolling rock, gathering strength.
Gosh, I sure hope the people in the music industry don’t starve to death as a result of this decision.
Alansky,
The substance of your comment is correct, however, you got music publishers confused with the labels. The publishers take minimal, nominal cut out of the artists’ share of the pie; the labels are the ones getting twice as much as everyone else combined, and it is at the labels’ doors that the songwriters should be pounding. Unfortunately, under today’s conditions, it would do them little good.
An interesting suggestion was made above for finding a way to cut labels out of the loop (gradually) — use iTunes Genius to find new music. Instead of relying on radio and mass advertising (where big labels shove their synthetic product down our throats). Genius doesn’t care who released the song; it will find it for us as long as someone is listening to it, which breaks down many barriers.
Genius is a potential game changer, I have no doubt.
MDN:
You mean ‘goose that laid the golden egg’.
The goose is not itself golden.
Who needs the Music Store nowadays, Apple has the App Store, selling 100,000,000 Apps in 60 days.
And a 70/30 split in the artists (developers) favour. Fuck music!
Fred said: “& chalk up another loss for creators of music – & intellectual property in general.”
To which I respond: it’s a free market. You can choose whatever distribution method you feel is right. Don’t sell your music on CD if you’re afraid of duplication, don’t play it on the radio if you’re afraid someone might record it off the air, and don’t sell it on iTunes if you think Apple gives you a bad deal. Play all your music live like a real touring artist and make sure that your fans check their tape recorders at the door. Show your movies only in authorized theatres instead of allowing fans to download your work.
No manufacturer or artist today has ultimate power to dictate to distributors the terms of the deal. Terms of distribution and payment are negotiated between the creator and the entities that do the dirty, unrewarding work of getting the product to the people. Due to oversupply of artists and lack of competition in distribution, it’s natural that power is in the hands of WalMart, Apple, Amazon, and the other distributors. That’s reality.
Now Apple, imho, offers artists a fair deal by ensuring that no artist gets dumped into the discount bin. All songs are worth the same, whether recorded by Andy McKee solo or by U2 in front of 100,000 fans. It’s still just a song. It’s disgusting to see how many artists have been brainwashed into believing they are worth more than others based on the power of their label’s corporate marketing or because they have more songs in their catalog. More sales doesn’t mean better art, it often means only that a bigger corporation is pushing the airhead Britney single of the month. Thankfully times have changed so that young artists can sell music even when labels send only Britney demos to radio stations.
So, Fred, even if you think your song is worth more than 99 cents, fans know that the market is flooded with artists. Economics 101 tells you that when supply is great, the price will fall. Sorry to burst your bubble.