digg

Facebook Connect Join Digg About

RIAA Wants Songwriter Royalty Lowered

hollywoodreporter.com — Lest there be anyone left who believes the RIAA's propaganda that its litigation campaign is intended to benefit the 'creators' of the music, the RIAA is asking the Copyright Royalty Board to lower songwriter royalties on song file downloads, from the present rate of 9 cents per song — about 13% of the wholesale price — down to 8%

Who dugg this? Made popular Feb 5, 2008

Digg DudeWhat is Digg?

Digg is a place for people to discover and share content from anywhere on the web. Digg surfaces the best stuff as submitted and voted on by the community. Take the Tour to learn more.

180 Comments

show profanity settings
expand all
  • gajolo, on 02/05/2008, -2/+177So, artists get 9 cents a song? And songs cost 99 cents? Bandwidth on a 2 to 10 mb file is what, a cent or something? Translation: the artists are getting ripped off.
    ***** the RIAA
  • earthsphere, on 02/05/2008, -1/+101Well there goes the RIAA argument of 'We're trying to protect the artists" - no, they can't beat the internet so why not beat the artists. Sheesh!
  • bshock, on 02/05/2008, -2/+80That's the way to protect the artists, all right. And you ***** call US the pirates.
  • simplistics06, on 02/05/2008, -1/+66They're just the creators of the music what the hell did they do to deserve any money.
  • ssj2119, on 02/05/2008, -13/+72..someones gotta say it

    ***** THE RIAA!!
  • aimhelix, on 02/05/2008, -2/+58***** RIAA.

    Artists should just sell music on their own.. hell even just get paid through Paypal. I'd be more than willing to give out $20 for an album to the artists I love; so long as I know that money is straight going to them. Who the ***** needs these douchebag middle men anyway?
  • swordedge, on 02/05/2008, -9/+60Oh my god, my limo has only four rows of seats. Lets lower royalties so that I can buy one with six rows of seats.
    Oh my god, my wallet isn't fat enough to pull down my pants, Lets lower royalties so that I need to hire a retainer to hold up my pants for me.
    Oh my god, my house only has 10,000 square feet. Lets lower royalties so that I can buy one that is at least 25,000 square feet.
  • wukillabee, on 02/05/2008, -5/+54all your profits are belong to us
  • pigfister, on 02/05/2008, -4/+49The BPI Are: SONY, UNIVERSAL, WARNER GROUP, EMI.

    The RIAA Soundexchange Are: SONY, UNIVERSAL, WARNER GROUP, EMI.

    The IFPI Are: The same anti consumer lot as listed above!

    The MPAA Are: SONY, UNIVERSAL, WARNER GROUP, DISNEY, PARAMOUNT, FOX.

    How do you stop anti consumer = its easy purchase only second hand media and avoid their propertarian hobbled by DRM hardware! http://www.boycott-riaa.com/
  • PropCulture, on 02/05/2008, -3/+40If the artists don't band together to speak out against this, they're bigger morons than the people at the RIAA.
  • radink360, on 02/05/2008, -2/+28we need Anonymous vs RIAA next.
  • emptybucket, on 02/05/2008, -1/+27Someone already did 8 hours before you.
  • 2487, on 02/05/2008, -1/+25Costs a lot of money to keep a bunch of useless executives rich!
  • DirkBelig, on 02/05/2008, -1/+23Before a singer can sing a song, someone has to write it. Before actors can act and directors direct, someone needs to write the script. With the entire existence of the music and film/TV industries utterly dependent on the creative pens of writers, isn't it odd that the one place where the suits seek to wring out the most "savings" (read: screw the hardest) is from those whom are already paid a relative pittance and without whom nothing else can occur?
  • dbrose67, on 02/05/2008, -2/+22Since mechanical royalties are statutory it's one of the few ways songwriters can actually get paid for their work. Artists and songwriters usually don't make any money from record sales. I hope the CRB, RIAA, digital retailers, distributors, record labels and publishers all realize they need to protect the interests of the songwriters if they want to have any material worth fighting over in the future.
  • josefresco, on 02/05/2008, -3/+22Apple wants the royalties even lower .... anyone upset about that?
    Oh wait that's right, this is Digg and Apple is untouchable.
  • protogenxl, on 02/05/2008, -1/+19I feel a songwriters strike is justified.
  • asdfrewq, on 02/05/2008, -0/+18Guys, this is a good thing. Really.

    The more the major labels try to ***** over both musicians and fans, the sooner they'll be gone. Just sit back and enjoy the ride :)
  • Nougat, on 02/05/2008, -4/+19If you're not making a good deal of money, you're not "in the music industry," you're a "stinky drifter with a guitar."
  • Dipster, on 02/05/2008, -0/+13Just a technicality, artists and songwriters aren't always the same person.
  • thelastcivilian, on 02/05/2008, -1/+13Anyone who has ever thought this was about the musicians is an idiot. Thank god record labels are a dying breed.
  • Khast, on 02/05/2008, -0/+9If anything else, the artists deserve a HIGHER royalty.
  • dext3r, on 02/05/2008, -0/+9I think he meant us, like the pronoun.
  • 4degrees, on 02/05/2008, -0/+9lars will have to wait another couple months to get that gold plated shark tank.
  • TexanPsycho, on 02/05/2008, -0/+8Always worth saying again.
  • inactive, on 02/05/2008, -1/+9That's what Blackbeard's crew called him in private.
  • dafragsta, on 02/05/2008, -3/+11"Few modern music performers write their own stuff..."

    Only if you listen to ***** music. Good music has almost always been performed and written by the same people. Of course Britney, J.Lo., etc. have never written a song. They are selling you unfulfilled sex and are just waiting for the chance to sell you more unfulfilled sex in a Pepsi commercial.
  • IADTatami, on 02/05/2008, -0/+8It would hurt them fast, too. Their biggest cash cows are their pretty, prefab singing ciphers, who couldn't write a comprehensible shopping list if their cocaine depended on it, much less a song.
  • blackmage439, on 02/05/2008, -1/+9This proves it. If there were any doubt in the minds of whoever supports this decrepit organization, this should erase it. If (and I stress a big IF here) the RIAA's intentions were ever to protect the rights/paychecks of the artists, it is no longer the case. The organization has devolved into a barbaric, savage bureaucracy whose only goal is to further their own ideals of what THEY deem to be acceptable use and distribution of their produced material, not what the creators of said material deem to be acceptable.
  • 40hands, on 02/05/2008, -1/+8Ok Capitan umm...snugglebear?
  • smurfz, on 02/05/2008, -0/+7Greedy bastards!
  • jonohull, on 02/05/2008, -0/+7The middlemen are there to promote and finance the recording process. Now that making a record is getting cheaper, anyone can do it, and the only thing left needed is advertising, which is even getting easier with the internet and 'indie' type movements. Right now you still need a label to get into the 'big time,' but not for long.
  • inactive, on 02/05/2008, -0/+7Don't buy music from record labels. Support musicians on the Internet who are DIY. This is the only way for the music industry to survive. It must fragment to the point of total destruction. It must remove the asshats who become "artists" just to get rich and the piranha corporate suits who back them.
  • schroeder, on 02/05/2008, -0/+6Submitting articles that people digg isn't spamming. It's kinda the whole point of digg.
  • SvenGeiss, on 02/05/2008, -0/+6Fundamentally, this fragile marketplace is showing signs of promise, but it cannot be saddled with additional, excessive costs," DiMA wrote. excessive costs is paying the artist his right. iTunes and the rest can go ***** themselves. As a musician myself, I only support the indy labels. check out www.amiestreet.com thats where artists get their fair share. 70% sales go to artist, 30% go to amie street to keep their systems running. how hard is that?
  • snugglebear, on 02/05/2008, -1/+7Arrrrrrrr! Shiver me timbers, thar be mp3's off the starboard bow!!

    I personally like being a pirate. I even dress up as one on occasion (and not even on halloween)
  • zrcochran, on 02/05/2008, -4/+10How about a songwriters strike?
  • norman619, on 02/05/2008, -0/+6"whom are already paid a relative pittance"

    Lumping all writers into one group is misleading. I know a few writers in LA/Hollywood and they get paid pretty well even w/o the royalties. That being said, song writers are the REAL creators of the music we love not the performers. It's like giving Disney the credit for Pixar movies. Few modern music performers write their own stuff which is pretty sad. It'd be interesting to find out how much they get paid to initially create the songs.
  • uncoveror, on 02/05/2008, -2/+7I hope you mean that songs are often performed by someone other than the one who wrote the song, and are not saying that writing songs isn't art. I would say that writing songs is more a work of art than just performing them. For example, calling Michael Bolton an "artist" is a loose use of the term.
  • SSUK, on 02/05/2008, -3/+8Not. Your. *****. Personal. Army.
  • alex7575, on 02/05/2008, -0/+5This is actually great news for all of us...

    If the RIAA keeps going this route, they'll get a 100% of nothing...

    we could be paying 20 cents per song straight to the artists, and they'll be way ahead, with the rest of us.
  • norman619, on 02/05/2008, -0/+5Ah my bad. :P
  • ZekeSulastin, on 02/05/2008, -3/+8Thanks for not only justifying to the RIAA and non-tech types the use of DRM, but also shafting the artist themselves regardless of RIAA involvement :)

    Douchebag. You ***** the RIAA by supporting the artists independent of them, not by using the RIAA as a feeble justification of your own piracy.
  • inactive, on 02/05/2008, -1/+6you must be new here. The only thing this guy does is copy paste the exact same thing each and every article thats about the RIAA. don't believe? then check his profile.
  • inactive, on 02/05/2008, -0/+5You don't get paid for a song until someone buys it, you license (for money) it to someone else for performance, or you perform it for money.
    You don't just "get paid" when you write a song.
  • Theisos, on 02/05/2008, -0/+5Hint...
  • SSUK, on 02/05/2008, -0/+5Wait, you can speak negatively about Apple? What is this crazy new world I've awoken in!?
  • hatdrop, on 02/05/2008, -0/+5so tell me what the RIAA did in regards to the creation OF the music to deserve their percentage from digital distribution? hell what did they do to deserve getting 99.13% of the profit from CD sales?

    face it the recording industry is merely a parasite leeching of the talent of others for their profit. they want artists to stay poor so they have to rely on them for "production"
  • GhostyBoy, on 02/05/2008, -0/+5***** the RIAA!
  • 1jaxstate1, on 02/05/2008, -1/+5Why is the title "RIAA...."... ***** Apple wants them lowered to 4%, and no one bashes Apple. WTF.
  • Fetching more discussions...
    Show 51 - 100 of 180 discussions

  • Add a Comment

    Login or register to comment!
    Or, sign-in super fast with your Facebook account ...


© Digg Inc. 2009 — Content created and posted by Digg users is dedicated to the public domain | Terms of Use Updated | Privacy Policy
DIGG, DIGG IT, DUGG, DIGG THIS, Digg graphics, logos, designs, page headers, button icons, scripts, and other service names are the trademarks of Digg Inc.