No Royalty Deal for Streaming Music Sites
According to the Washington Post:
Negotiations between the Digital Media Association (DiMA) and SoundExchange over royalty fees for streaming music fell apart at the last minute, leaving the two without a deal at the Feb. 15 deadline set by the Webcaster Settlement Act. DiMA members include RealNetworks, Pandora and MTV. Billboard reports that the expected deal ran aground during a conference call just before the deadline. No details on what the squabble was about but, in a statement, DiMA Executive Director Jonathan Potter said the couldn’t overcome a major difference: “We are unable to resolve our principled differences regarding the applicability of sound recording performance royalties to various activities of multifaceted online companies, particularly when those activities and their revenue are not directly associated with the performance of sound recordings.” In other words, Real wants to pay royalties based on streaming music only, not on game or software revenue; Real has said it may have to cut back on streaming music as a result. Pandora has said it might have to shut down if forced to pay the full royalty increase. Continue Reading…
February 18th, 2009 at 4:51 am
[...] Rollo Grady added an interesting post today on No Royalty Deal for Streaming Music SitesHere’s a small readingAccording to the Washington Post: Negotiations between the Digital Media Association (DiMA) and SoundExchange over royalty fees for streaming music fell apart at the last minute, leaving the two without a deal at the Feb. 15 deadline set by the Webcaster Settlement Act. DiMA members include RealNetworks, Pandora and MTV. Billboard reports that the expected deal ran aground during a conference call just before the deadline. No details on what the squabble was about but, in a statement, DiMA [...]