The RIAA Hates You.

Remember when the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) was suing consumers (i.e., its customers) for stealing music?  If you thought their purpose was to retrieve money owed to the artists, you may have been misinformed.  In fact recent efforts from the RIAA suggest they want to take money away from artists…

From ASCAP:

David Israelite, NMPA President and CEO tells us, “The current rate for physical phonorecords is 9.1 cents. The RIAA has proposed slashing the rate to approximately 6 cents a song - a cut of more than one-third the current rate! For permanent digital downloads, NMPA is proposing a rate of 15 cents per track because the costs involved are much less than for physical products. The RIAA has proposed the outrageous rate of approximately 5 to 5.5 cents per track, and DiMA is proposing even less. For interactive streaming services, which some analysts believe will be the future of the music industry, NMPA is proposing a rate of the greater of 12.5% of revenue, 27.5% of content costs, or a micro-penny calculation based on usage. The RIAA actually proposed that songwriters and music publishers should get the equivalent of .58% of revenue. And DiMA is taking the position that songwriters’ and music publishers’ mechanical rights should be zero, because DiMA does not believe we have any such rights!”

If they’re suing their customers, and now attempting to ensure artists are paid less, who exactly is the RIAA advocating for?  Themselves, apparently.  After all, the only ones who could profit from artists making less money are major label record executives. 

Luckily there are those who are fighting the RIAA.