From: Adam <""4thwormcastfromthemolehill\"{at}the field.near
the bridge">

Now this is how real crims do it complete with demanding money with menaces etc.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/4/24/141326/870

"There has been an understandable public outcry against the RIAAƒ ™s
attempts to more than triple the sound recording copyright royalties on
Internet radio. (See Save Internet Radio from Corporate Money Grab) One
solution proposed by Webcasters is to just not play RIAA-member songs under
the assumption that then they donƒ ™t have to pay the royalty to the RIAAƒ
™s collection body, SoundExchange; Webcasters would then just pay the
independent artist the royalty.

This sounds fair and just because it is. However, the RIAA is not about
being fair and just. The game is rigged and the RIAA has rigged it in their
favor. The strategy of playing only non-RIAA songs won't work though
because the RIAA has secured the right to collect royalties on all songs
regardless of who controls the copyright. RIAA operates under the
assumption that they will collect the royalties for the "sound
recording copyright" and that the artists who own their own copyright
will go to SoundExchange to collect at a later date."

"SoundExchange (the RIAA) considers any digital performance of a song
as falling under their compulsory license. If any artist records a song,
SoundExchange has the right to collect royalties for its performance on
Internet radio. Artists can offer to download their music for free, but
they cannot offer their songs to Internet radio for free.
(http://soundexchange.com/faq.html#a7)

So how it works is that SoundExchange collects money through compulsory
royalties from Webcasters and holds onto the money. If a label or artist
wants their share of the money, they must become a member of SoundExchange
and pay a fee to collect their royalties
(http://soundexchange.com/faq.html#b6). But, and this is a big
"but," you only get royalties if you own the sound recording
copyright. If you are signed to a major label, chances are you donƒ ™t.
Even if you do own the copyright to your own recording of your own song,
SoundExchange will collect Internet radio royalties for your song even if
you donƒ ™t want them to do so.

Go to the SoundExchange site: http://plays.soundexchange.com/... and take a
look at the hundreds of indie labels for whom SoundExchange claims they
have collected royalties. Enter some of those label names on
http://www.riaaradar.com/... and notice how few are actually members of the
RIAA. Contact the label and ask if they are a member of RIAA and they
almost certainly arenƒ ™t and may not even be aware that SoundExchange is
collecting royalty fees on their music.

And what exactly is SoundExchange doing with the money they have collected
for those hundreds of labels that must have thousands of songs???"

Amazing.

This really is IP theft. They will extort others to pay them money for your
work & then only hand over the money to you (less their expenses
obviously) if you join their little "crew".

I wonder if the top people in the RIAA have nicknames just as Johnny
"the face" Pastromo etc.


Adam

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