It seems as though record companies have developed a new game plan in order to collect royalties. As we all know, the music industry attempted to sue individual users who illegally downloaded songs. But because of this approach to recover from major fiscal loss has destroyed their public image.
Instead of lowering the cost of CDs in order to compete with music circulating through the internet that is for free, these businesses have turned to collection agencies who are now bringing cellphone companies to court over royalties from ring tones. Contesting that ring tones counted as public performances, the music industry asserted that cell phone companies should be obligated to pay performance fees. The courts quickly denied this claim.
Despite this unfruitful endeavour to collect on royalties, Broadcast Music Inc is now suing T-Mobile over ring back tones, alleging that the mobile carrier is selling them without licensing agreements. Unlike ring tones, which play publically when someone calls, ring back tones are only heard specifically by the person calling. Instead of hearing a cellphone dialing, the caller will hear a song that was chosen by the cell owner.
Cynics are quickly to point out the seeming irony of this lawsuit. Ringtones which can be heard by anyone around a cellphone do not count as a public performance, so it seems ridiculous to sue the mobile carriers over a ringback tone that can be heard solely by the caller. The music industry, suffering from major financial losses, seems to be grasping at straws in order to collect any money that they possibly can.
It does not seem that the idea of lowering the cost of CDs and DVDs has occurred to the record companies. There are still a large number of music lovers out there who would rather collect and own the media, but with prices constantly rising, downloading music for free seems more and more tempting. CDs are generally priced at seventeen dollars.
Some bands have been avoiding the issue of music downloading through different tactics. Radiohead, an alternative rock band, created a website where fans are allowed to download the music for free, or for a donation. Nine Inch Nails’ Trent Reznor has created a similar website. Keeping record companies’ unsuccessful lawsuits and declining public image in mind, it appears as though creative thinking and fair pricing may be more productive than bullying money out of mobile carriers and individual users.
Mallory McGuinness-Hickey works for debt collection agency Rapid Recovery Solution and writes free lance pieces on financial news.
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