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On Monday, January 28, the Copyright Royalty Board (CRB) began the hearings that will determine mechanical rates for songwriters and music publishers. In addition to setting rates for physical products, rates will be set for digital downloads, subscription services and ringtones.
The National Music Publishers' Association (NMPA) will be representing the interests of songwriters and music publishers and will be fighting vigorously to protect those interests to ensure that musical compositions are compensated fairly.
In opposition to the NMPA, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and the Digital Music Association (DiMA) have proposed significant reductions in mechanical royalty rates that would be disastrous for songwriters and music publishers.
NMPA President & CEO David Israelite has informed us that the NMPA is proposing an increase to 12.5 cents per song from the current rate of 9.1 cents for physical phonorecords. The RIAA, however, has proposed slashing the rate to approximately 6 cents a song, a cut of more than one-third the current rate.
For permanent digital downloads, the NMPA is proposing a rate of 15 cents per track, as the costs involved are much less than for physical products, while the RIAA has proposed the rate of approximately 5 - 5.5 cents per track, and DiMA is proposing even less.
For interactive streaming services, the NMPA is proposing a rate of the greatest of 12.5% of revenue, 27.5% of content costs, or a micro-penny calculation based on usage. The RIAA actually proposed that songwriters and music publishers should get the equivalent of .58% of revenue — less than 1%. And DiMA is taking the position that songwriters' and music publishers' mechanical rights should be zero, because DiMA does not believe they have any such rights.
Rick Carnes, President of the Songwriters Guild of America and the first witness called in the CRB mechanical royalty rate hearings, stated, "Our opponents have to recognize that this rate setting is not a matter of gamesmanship for songwriters, but rather one of survival. As I stated in my testimony, in response to a question from those seeking to cut the mechanical royalty rate in half and to denigrate the importance and contribution of professional songwriters to the music industry, "Yes, songs are plentiful, just as rocks are plentiful. But if you want diamonds, you are going to have to pay the miners a living wage."
Charles J. Sanders, Counsel to SGA, added: "The independent songwriter community, through its own strong voice, is united in its efforts to lead the fight for fair compensation for creators and copyright owners in the current mechanical royalty rate hearings. Songwriters stand shoulder to shoulder with their music publisher partners in this struggle, and will brook no attempts — whether instigated by foes or professed but conflicted allies — to unduly influence or disrupt our efforts to guarantee equity over extinction for music creators."
Another early witness, Steve Bogard, President of the Board of Directors of the Nashville Songwriters Association International (NSAI), said, “I will always be grateful for the opportunity, early on in the case, to look those three learned judges in the eye at close range and explain to them that for songwriters, the words ‘contribution’ and ‘investment’ are not just about money. Those words are about giving our lives to an art and a craft we love, enduring economic hardships for ourselves and our families, and pouring our hearts, souls and lives into words and music. Whether it’s ‘Blue Suede Shoes’ booming from a Ferrari in Monte Carlo or ‘Somewhere Over the Rainbow’ floating from a Café on St. Mark’s square, the American popular song is the soul of the world’s music. As I said to those three judges, if we do not prevail in this case, like math, science and manufacturing, writing great songs will just be one more thing at which America used to be the world’s best.”
The initial hearing will last four weeks, with the three permanent Copyright Royalty Judges hearing arguments Mondays through Thursdays from 9:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. each day. At the conclusion of the initial hearing, there will be more discovery, followed by a rebuttal hearing in May, and a final decision expected on October 2.
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funny how ASCAP can spend a ton of money to fight this but they can't keep track of when your music is played on the radio and tv in this day and age. Got another statement this year saying no plays, but if I google my band it comes up on radio playlists on the internet. another band I know with a national ad campaign on tv using their songs got a big 0 too.
They sure do pretend to stand up for the musicians.
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I have to wonder if this is a domino effect; meaning the writers strike domino falling first and everybody falling down after them trying to get their dues. I think it's a good thing that they are battling it out. Writers, songwriters have all been accustomed to business as usual and accepting their cut from that. Business is used to not hearing much from the writers, and probably thought they could sneak by them the latest streaming income. I mean, if they're quiet, they must not be paying attention. Well, somebody woke up and told everybody!
~Bridget
www.youtube.com/MakeBelieveMusVideo
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I 'm not sure the problem is with ascap or bmi as much as it is the method used for measuring airplay on the internet and you can call soundexchange to get the formula for how thats done. Muscians should be fairly paid for there work writing , playing etc. Any one in this world who works should be fairly compensated for there time and effort and the only way to solve the problems is to talk about it and get involved.Bmi , ASCAP, SOUNDEXCHANGE,are trying to work out fair deals for everyone.(internet charts)Most of the stations on the internet are so small they can't afford to pay much so don't expect much from internet airplay
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BMI, ASCAP, etc are trying to work out fair deals for themselves. If you think they are truly trying to pay fairly to all members you are wrong. They will extort and collect and pay to the big time artists but the middle to little guys are not a priority for them and you basically have to fight tooth and nail to get what is yours when dealing with them.
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go back to the top and read ,the NMPA is trying to make sure that writers are getting there fair share. I'm always interested in hearing though who has a better plan...
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Talking about BMI, what is "cable tv retro distribution"? Does anyone have any info on that? It keeps coming up on my list. No royalties due though.
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