- Sony BMG is one of the four owners of the Big Music cartel and its BMG (Bertelsmann, Germany) component is under attack from song writers “Jerry Leiber, Mike Stoller, the Frank Music Corporation and Peer International Music Corporation, with UMG and the Harry Fox agency lurking in the background”.
So it seems only fitting that the the BPI (British Phonographic Industry) and iTunes, among others, should be taking the MCPS (Mechanical Copyright Protection Society) to the Copyright Tribunal because, it says, the MCPS is over-charging for online downloads and subscriptions.
"The seven online services - AOL, Apple iTunes, MusicNet, Napster, RealNetworks, Sony Connect and Yahoo! - are filing references to the Copyright Tribunal, alongside the BPI, challenging the tariff set by the MCPS-PRS Alliance for the use of musical works on the internet and on wireless devices," says the BPI, continuing:
"Publishing royalties on physical products, such as CDs, stand at 6.5% of retail price (or 8.5% of the published wholesale price). Broadcast radio rates range from 3% - 5.25% of net advertising revenues. But the Alliance’s online tariff proposals would impose a rate of 12% of gross retail revenues on nearly all online music offerings (subject to a temporary discount to 8%).
"The online music services and the BPI argue that the terms set by the MCPS-PRS Alliance are unreasonable ... "
BPI lawyer Geoff Taylor says its owners, the Big Four, and "legal" online music services. "absolutely accept that composers should be fairly paid for their work and their creativity.
"Our highly-publicised campaign against illegal filesharing is based on the premise that music is something that has to be paid for.
However, he says, "online music is ultimately just another music format – like a CD, a DVD or a 12 inch vinyl record. It doesn’t make sense that, because downloads and other online music services have come along, royalties to publishers and songwriters should suddenly double."
It's rather like a pack of already bloated dogs trying to eat each other.
See:- under attack - BMG, Napster ruling, p2pnet, June 4, 2005 BPI - Music services and record companies challenge excessive online publishing royalties, June 29, 2005
