[Infowarrior] - RIAA collecting money from non-RIAA members, w/Congressional support

[Richard Forno]

Webcasting Non-RIAA Music In Protest May Only Make The RIAA Wealthier

http://techdirt.com/articles/20070430/013922.shtml

Following the latest webcasting rates that will likely put many webcasters
out of business, one suggestion was that webcasters should simply play
non-RIAA music. In theory this would help in multiple ways -- giving those
independent musicians more publicity while avoiding the draconian webcasting
rates. In practice... however, that won't work. Slashdot points us to an
article dissecting the fine print, where you'll discover that SoundExchange,
which is the RIAA's collection body, actually gets to collect money for
non-RIAA members as well. In other words, even for independent artists who
don't want webcasters to have to pay, webcasters will still need to pay up.

The story actually gets even worse. As we noted a few years ago, part of the
deal is that SoundExchange and the RIAA get to keep any unclaimed money for
themselves. Even better, SoundExchange can simply pretend not to be able to
find the musicians (as they've done with a ton of big name musicians in the
past). So, chances are, many independent artists have no idea that
SoundExchange is hanging onto a bunch of money they didn't even want
collected and there's almost no chance they'll claim it -- meaning that if
you try to avoid the webcasting rates by playing non-RIAA music, there's a
good chance you're actually enriching the RIAA even more.

Just for fun, why don't we compare two situations? The RIAA tells people
that simply listening to music without paying for it is a terrible crime
that people should be punished for. Yet... the RIAA getting money for
non-RIAA music and not paying the deserving artists that money is perfectly
legal? Damn, the RIAA lobbyists are good.