Why #Songwriters Are Getting Left In the Cold by #ASCAP and #BMI…

This article is wrong in so many levels. Where do I start?

First it pits the PROs against The Labels. They are not adversaries. They are two parties that represent the same side of the coin – the rights and royalties due Creatives (Creatives is my way of describing ALL parties involved in creating music: recording artists + songwriters + composers + backup artists + ).

The owner of the master recordings , often referred to as The Labels which is itself an outdated nomenclature, can and should be getting paid fairly as should the copyright holders for the musical composition – often simplified as the PROs. Labels AND PROs both need to be compensated fairly.

The premise of this article is fatally flawed. It assumes the streaming companies like Spotify are already paying fair rates for the product they sell – digital music. In nearly every case this is false. Most streaming companies are not paying anywhere near fair market rates for music. Millions of plays generate pathetically little compensation to the Creatives. Half a billion dollars sounds like a lot to pay but they leave out the fact that this equates to a dollar paid for tens of thousands of songs they sold their listeners.

The article says there is only 100% of the pie to give away. The streaming service needs their piece, and the labels should fight the PROs for what remains. Sounds great in theory until someone points out the pie is 3x too small to feed everyone at the table.

Fixed price all you want to hear streaming services are a flawed business model as is the back room negotiations that are setting the streaming rates with NO involvement from Creatives. The right solution is based on pay for what you consume streaming services and a true fair market system for both buying and selling creative works.

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Why #Songwriters Are Getting Left In the Cold by #ASCAP and #BMI…

http://www.digitalmusicnews.com/2016/08/24/songwriters-left-cold-ascap-bmi/