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Spotify, Google, Pandora, Amazon Go To US Appeals Court To Overturn Royalty Increase (variety.com)
Spotify, Google, Pandora and Amazon have teamed up to appeal a controversial ruling by the U.S. Copyright Royalty Board that, if it goes through, would increase payouts to songwriters by 44%, Variety is reporting. From the report: A joint statement from the first three of those companies reads: "The Copyright Royalty Board (CRB), in a split decision, recently issued the U.S. mechanical statutory rates in a manner that raises serious procedural and substantive concerns. If left to stand, the CRB's decision harms both music licensees and copyright owners. Accordingly, we are asking the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit to review the decision."
The four companies all filed with the court separately. Sources say that Apple Music is alone among the major streaming services in not planning to appeal -- as confirmed by songwriters' orgs rushing to heap praise on Apple while condemning the seemingly unified front of the other digital companies.
The four companies all filed with the court separately. Sources say that Apple Music is alone among the major streaming services in not planning to appeal -- as confirmed by songwriters' orgs rushing to heap praise on Apple while condemning the seemingly unified front of the other digital companies.
More forced royalties makes the services more expensive to run, which in turn is making the subscription more expensive.
A more expensive subscription means lots of users will drop out and go back to pirating, meaning absolutely no revenue from them for copyright owners. Models probably predict that more people would leave than is offset by the increased revenue.
The notable difference between Apple Music and the other services is that Apple never cared for it and can afford to run it at a loss.
If Amazon, Spotify etc will succeed, it'll wont have to increase the payouts either. -> Win and they can tell the artist Apple was on their side. Perhaps even increase the payout by a few small percent to become to more attractive to artists again.
If the lawsuit fails, Amazon, Spotify etc will be the bad bullies with egg on their faces. -> Win for Apple again. No legal cost and they have positioned themselves at the side of the artists.
Whatever happens, Apple doesn't lose by letting others take the fall or doing the work.
Clever.