ascap

Buzz Out Loud 1003: Natali smuggles drugs in her undergarments

OK, not really. Although she did admit to it. But it had to do with Intel getting into Nokia phones somehow. Or did it have to do with the Clear Pass getting discontinued at airports? Or was it? And there were chickens. And turtles. You have to just listen.

Listen now: Download today's podcast Subscribe now: iTunes (audio) | iTunes (video) | RSS (audio) | RSS (video) EPISODE 1003

Like Bigfoot, we now report on ‘Steve Jobs’ sightings http://news.cnet.com/8301-13579_3-10270847-37.html

Clear, aka the “TSA Fast Pass,” shuts down http://www.boingboing.net/2009/06/22/clear-aka-the-tsa-fa.html http://news.cnet.com/8301-13505_3-10270837-16.html… Read more

Should software face the flat-rate music future?

CD sales dropped 20 percent in 2008, as reported by The Wall Street Journal. But this isn't the whole story.

As Ars Technica points out, the music industry as a whole grew in 2008, with online sales accelerating. But this, too, doesn't tell the whole story.

The real story behind this creative destruction is called out by rising revenues for organizations like ASCAP, and underlined in the Media Futurist blog, where Gerd Leonhard points out that the real shift in the music industry is away from copy-based license business and toward flat-rate, attention-based business models. What is an … Read more

What the ASCAP music decision means for consumers

There's no mistaking who benefited from a federal-court decision to set licensing fees that three top Web services must pay songwriters and publishers for the right to stream their music.

But the question left unanswered is whether the losers also include consumers.

AOL, RealNetworks, and Yahoo may end up paying the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP) $100 million as a result of a decision by a U.S. district judge to set the licensing fee for streaming music at 2.5 percent of adjusted music-use revenue.

"(The court's decision) is a victory for songwriters, … Read more

Court: Online services must pay up for song use

A federal district court in New York ruled Wednesday that the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers is owed "reasonable license fees" by online media powerhouses AOL, RealNetworks, and Yahoo for the music streamed and distributed on their sites.

Currently, music streamed by sites owned by the three companies is advertising-supported and no dividends are paid to ASCAP.

The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York will now determine appropriate fees for AOL, RealNetworks, and Yahoo, all of which have applied for ASCAP licenses but have not been able to agree upon fees. … Read more