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The SoundExchange Billion Dollar Administrative Fee
palewook writes "On June 7th, Yahoo, RealNetworks, Pandora, and Live365 sent letters to US lawmakers emphasizing they owe SoundExchange 'administrative fees' of more than $1 billion dollars a year. These fees would be paid for the 'privilege' of collecting the increased CRB royalties effective July 15th, unless the Internet Radio Equality Act passes Congress. SoundExchange, the non-profit music industry entity, admits the levied charge of $500 per 'channel' is supposed to only cover their administrative costs. Last year, SoundExchange collected a total of $20 million dollars from the Internet radio industry. Under the new 'administrative fee' RealNetworks, which hosted 400,000 unique subscribed channels in 2006, would owe an annual administrative charge of 200 million dollars in addition to the retroactive 2006 rate hike per song played."
How dare they.
They beat me to it. It's always been my dream to set up a non-profit (for everyone else except me of couse) that rakes in money by charging other companies fee levels that I just make up.
Do not try to read the dupe, thats impossible. Instead, only try to realize the truth
What truth?
There is no dupe
This is yet another way for the government to take money from the citizens at gunpoint to give to others. Anyone who voted Republicrat or Democan shut up and go sit on the sidelines. The Republicrats and Democans enacted this and you voted for them asking for an intrusive and activist government. You have no room to complain now. You asked for this.
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A vote against a Libertarian candidate is
a vote to abolish the Constitution itself.
With advocates like this, it's hard to believe people have difficulty taking Libertarians seriously.
I am TheRaven on Soylent News
.. I'd like to see the math and results of income to such organizations and businesses ... but prior to internet.
In other words, who gets what without the internet?
As necessary as it seems, with all the snooping, the phishing, the scams, the logging, the data mining, the patent fights, and all the other crap that's going on these days, it is getting where the Internet is more necessary evil - with emphasis on the evil.
I also agree with net neutrality. That's the problem. I just hate it that anyone thinks they have to resort what is tantamount to extortion. Or that anyone has to resort to extortion.
People predicted long ago that once money got involved with the net, it would radically change. They were right. All of computing has.
Which side am I supposed to choose here? The recording industry, or Real Networks. I hate them both.
Wait a second here... that means whoever ends up getting screwed, I win. Rock On.
The RIAA will kill off internet radio, then another piece of the 'music pie', and then another and another until it has nothing left.
...the sound of someone laughing - all the way to the bank.
All pass beyond reach of medicine. None pass beyond the reach of love.
Given the choice between total obliteration of our society and the fiscal raping of a few for-profit companies, I think we'll screw Real.
That's funny. You know that SoundExchange is the one taking the money here, and that they're not a part of the government, right? Right?
Besides, the whole point of the idea of "democracy" is to let people complain about the government. We can complain all we want. Nyaaaah.
Is that the politicians want their share of shakedown. Has anyone noticed that Microsoft had zero lobbyists in Washington before the anti-trust lawsuit, and they now spend $200 million a year on Washington lobbyists? Internet radio will have to pay the piper.
I was wrong, a vote against a Libertarian Candidate is a vote towards the right direction. We Libertarians are nothing more than a bunch of fucktards who should go slit our fucking wrists.
-Bob Robertson
I wonder what Real Networks will do if they can't come up with the $200 million dollars they apparently owe... They'll probably stall for time... Buffering...
Cheer up, the rest of the world will still have freedom on the internet. It's just us Americans who will be regulated out of having any expression.
We'll still be able to listen to Russian stations.
Where's you're "In Soviet Russia..." joke now, bitches?
Government to SoundExchange: What is this?! Where did you learn to charge these outrageous administrative fees? Was it from all those lawyers I see you hanging around with?
SoundExchange to Government: I learned it from YOU OK! I learned it by watching you *sob*
SoundExchange runs out of the room while Government stares into the distance meaningfully.
IOU one (1) signature
A vote against a Libertarian candidate is
a vote to abolish the Constitution itself.
What if I voted for a Constitution party candidate? Was that a vote against the Constitution as well?
While I don't advocate someone blowing their office to flinders with a bomb or some other evil terroristic act, I am surprised that it hasn't happened yet (one would think that with all the loosely bound people in the USA, one of them would have freaked out by now and targeted them...)
What I DO advocate is that the RIAA and the MPAA and their associated organisations be banned and eliminated and the music and film artists and industry re-organise itself along more open and egalitarian lines.
RS
Shoes for Industry. Shoes for the Dead.
The Iraq war and Nazi Bush and PNAC Cheney and Operation Northwoods and Global Warming and Guantanamo Bay will be responsible for AMERICA'S DEMISE!!!
You must vote Democrat or else the world will be destroyed!!!!
VOTE DEMOCRAT
Close, the point of democracy is that people can CHANGE the government when they don't like it. Change means more than just complaining about something.
At first I thought SoundExchange was billing the CongressCritters for [pinky-to-mouth]ONE BILLION DOLLARS[/pinky-to-mouth].
Then I reread it, and realized Real, Yahoo! and the others were pointing out the consequences of the CRB decision.
General Relativity: Space-time tells matter where to go; Matter tells space-time what shape to be.
Perhaps you have lost your perspective from too much time on the net. When all is said and done it's just music were talking about. People go nuts for lesser reasons, sure, but I question if the issues surrounding the RIAA has had anywhere NEAR the exposure it would take to have the statistical nutjob appear. Ask 100 people about the RIAA and 95 will have no idea what you're going on about, while the other 5 think it some kind of STD. The strong moral issues that create nutjobs don't exist with net radio. (unlike abortion, joblesness, etc)
People who think they know everything really piss off those of us that actually do.
IANAA (i am not an American), but if SoundExchange is supposed to be a non-profit, doesn't that mean they have to actually spend a significant portion of those funds on whatever issue they're supporting ?
I know here in Canada, charitable organizations have to spend something like 80% of their income on the cause, with the remaining 20% expected to cover administrative expenses and salaries. I could be wrong on the numbers but it's in the ballpark. There is also a limit on how long an org can sit on their money, so for example they couldn't raise 1 million in a year and siphon off the 20% over five years. If that weren't the case, everyone and their mother would have their own non-profit company as a tax-free retirement account.
And don't start telling me they're actually paying the artists. They're paying the publishers, the agents, the producers, the "everything up to 11" pop mix "engineer", and of course the lobbyists. Besides, SoundExchange's information is such a market driver that it's in the industry's best interests to have doped and skimmed numbers depending on who they're pushing that particular week.
-Billco, Fnarg.com
What ever happened to America being the land of freedom and opportunity?
Can someone tell me, that how much money is being collected and sent to the artists for this 1 billion dollars administration fee?
Are they a non-profit organization? Who gets the money? What are their admin costs?
You know on libertarianism, and I was thinking about this because I consider voting for Ron Paul, you know what holds them back? Complete lack of foreign policy. I don't want to waste too much time on this, because it's off topic, but that's I think what stops libertarian candidates from being legitimate candidates (particularly in the case of the presidency). What's Doc Paul's answer for Iran? N.K.? Is it non-interventionism? Because I think we can do better than that.
Anyway, if you feel like that sort of rings true to you, and want to read the same opinion by someone with a name, feel free to go to reason.com (which is the site of the libertarian magazine Reason) and read the recent interview with Christopher Hitchens, who happens to say much the same thing.
Cheers.
Relax I just want some peanuts.
Apparently, the way this works is that each session between a client (that would be me and thee) and a server counts as a "channel".
If this actually becomes law, I think the proper thing to do is to sue on behalf of the "not for profit" SoundExchange (a.k.a. a front man for the RIAA) all the radio stations, counting each listener as an individual channel.
Then sue all the record stores, counting each customer as a unique individual channel. At the end of all this, no industry recorded music would be sold, and the recording industry would collapse.
It's only fair that they get what they asked for.
I think that every company that the CRB says owes them money should simply refuse to pay and force the CRB and Sound Exchange to thereby spend every penny in their coffers litigating against these companies indefinitely. It will not strengthen the resolve of the CRB or SoundExchange to behave in a manner consistent with their decisions, but will force Congress to mediate an action that will be amicable for everyone. Worst case scenario for SoundExchange and CRB: nobody pays them a single penny and they run out of money paying lawyers to sue everyone who eventually files bankruptcy protection to prevent having to pay them. Best hack ever.
lubrication. You troubles of those THE GAY NIGGERS haaPiness Another
Given the choice between total obliteration of our society and the fiscal raping of a few for-profit companies, I think we'll screw Real.
...So much money being thrown around and so little benefit...For most of us, it's like seeing it go straight into the incinerator.
I guess the collateral damage makes it all worth it? That's a little like killing a guy by blowing up the 747 he's riding in with 350 other people. It's much better to eliminate the laws that protect the cartels that are nearing the end of the road. But then, who's going to kill that golden goose?
What?
Don't feed the trolls.
To put the $1 billion in perspective, the net revenue for all music sales in 2006 in the U.S. reported by the RIAA was only $11.5 billion. That's revenue, not profit.
Is this a prime example of a GetRich Quick scam?
It really looks that way.
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The Admin fee will pay for more lawsuits, SoundExchange will start going after anyone who has music on their website, e.g. all those podcasters out there, mp3 blogs, etc. They'll start suing them as well as spend tons more money lobbying for their own self-interest.
If nothing else, the revelation of these so called "administrative fees" proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that SoundExchange is not in place to benefit the artists. They are attempting to line their pockets as thick as they can now that they have been given the opportunity. They are trying to get paid for song plays for artists that they do not represent and pay no money out to.
What prevents me from creating my own organization and start billing radio stations and internet sites for song plays, because I represent at least one artist (myself)? And if there is a legal reason for me not to be able to do this, how the heck did these theiving creeps at SE get the gig?
argued by eric long term survival quarreled on
As the USA and RIAA, etc continue to crush the USA, isn't the most direct remedy
for the American media consumer to listen to internet radio from provider outside the USA?
The US GOV and commercial media can certainly herd the mass, though for the computer literate
it is possible that they go outside USA while sitting at home in USA?
Either way, the USA is turning into terrible place with much economic stagnation, not to
mention that general intellect is simply absent there.
The Libertarian Party is asking for conquest by Mexico, but Ron Paul isn't. He's against open borders, and that makes sense. The point of libertarianism is to protect the liberty of the American people. You can't do that by allowing foreign invasion.
Whoever modded me offtopic is a retard. The post I replied to was on the subject of libertarianism, was it not? Surely I didn't overstep the bounds of the discussion... but thanks anyway whoever thought they were making slashdot a better place by doing that.
Relax I just want some peanuts.
If Pandora has ten thousand listeners like me, that's twenty thousand stations times $500 per station is ten million dollars. That's probably enough to kill Pandora and any other customizable channel internet radio site. But if the internet radio site only had say five channels, that's only $2,500, easily affordable by a commercial site.
My conclusion from this little exercise is that the RIAA is out to kill customizable channels. They don't want you to learn about music on your own. They only want you to listen to whatever the latest pop sensation is. They want to eliminate choice and the extra expense of having so many artists. If they can make it so all you ever hear is the generic artist of the moment, that's all you'll know and all you'll buy.
This is all about control. RIAA wants to make sure they control not just your access to their artists but your ability to discover new artists not under their contracts. Internet radio is a growing force and a growing threat to their ability to pick what music you buy.
I can only hope that they have overreached; that the huge amount of money involved here makes their motives visible to Congress. And that Congress cares. That sure makes it sound like a lost cause, doesn't it?
That's the dumbest argument ever. It's pretty easy to stand back and say "my guy would have been better". He has never been in office, so we can't know how good/bad he'll do.
I can just as easily say "Thank God we didn't vote Libertarian. Things would have been so much worse."
Meh. I hate politics.
There's no place like
> Does this mean Congress-critters are demanding payouts?
if your name is William Jefferson, it sure does, you betcha'!
They only need to promise whoever don't side with them will get only negative publicity on their news page during the election year.
"I don't want to waste too much time on this, because it's off topic"
your words.
yes.
1. Set up royalties collecting company 2. ???? 3. Profit!
Or are you implying that people will stop listening to music?
I've stopped listening to recorded music entirely, as a matter of principle.
illegitimii non ingravare
The members of the MAFIAA are not a part of the government either. They got their power the same way SoundExchange got theirs, through creating laws which are unconstitutional. Through legislation SoundExchange can now take money from someone who has an Internet Radio Station at gunpoint. Don't believe me? Well try running an internet radio station, refuse to pay SoundExchange,and resist arrest when they come for you. You will see those gun points pointing right at you.
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A vote against a Libertarian candidate is
a vote to abolish the Constitution itself.