Royalty agencies snub Big Music
p2pnet.net News:- Royalty agencies have rejected Big Music’s ‘offer’ to govern music downloads across Europe, the UK’s The Times says here.
"The record industry is expected to learn today that royalty collection societies across the region want more time to negotiate a flat rate to cover legal music downloads as well as sales of CDs and DVDs," it states.
"Instead, the companies are being forced to develop services on a country-by-country basis, with Apple expected to launch iTunes in the UK next week, followed by Sony Connect later this month."
The hapless Napster II is already in the UK.
Europe has all kinds of different licensing and retail practices and, "From Sweden to Spain, an album often has different prices and staggered release dates," says a March Associated Press story here. "An Italian singer with a devoted following at home, for example, often doesn’t have a distribution deal in Britain.
"One big problem: No pan-European agreement exists between record labels and the various agencies that collect royalties for songwriters and music publishers. Companies that sell music online in Europe have to negotiate royalty rates in each country – a nightmare of red tape."
The Times says it’s "understood that the music companies offered the agencies a flat 8 per cent royalty fee for every song downloaded legally within Europe. The rate would also cover the sale of CDs and DVDs.
"Sources close to the collection societies said that they were not yet prepared to strike a treaty on music downloads without further negotiation with the record companies. "
The new offer compares with the existing royalty payment of 9% for sales of CDs in Europe and 8.5% in the UK, and the pan-regional rate of 6% for DVDs, says The Times story, adding:
"A source amiliar withclose to the situation said: ‘Throughout all negotiations between record companies and the collection societies it has always been the artists that backed down and took a lower rate.There is always a situation where you decide not to let that happen again’."
