Recording Industry, Noncommercial Webcasters, Reach Royalty Rate Deal

from the again? dept

The RIAA has agreed to a deal with noncommercial webcasters concerning how much they need to pay in royalties, and the rates actually sound somewhat reasonable (all things considered). Of course, I still wonder who it is that gets to speak for all non-commercial webcasters and make this agreement. I also still find it a little strange that anyone who is out there publicly promoting musical groups - for completely non-commercial purposes - need to pay the music industry for helping their artists get more attention. It's a weird business where you need to pay for the right to promote someone else - with no clear benefit to yourself. However, that said, the rates aren't going to be bankrupting anyone. Another article on the topic has more details about how the different fees work. One curious thing: if you run a non-commercial online radio show devoted to news or sports (in other words, no music) you're still expected to pay some money (though, a lower rate) to the recording industry. How does that make any sense?

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