Record companies have apparently found a new tactic to cash in on royalties. As we are well aware, at first these businesses sued individual users who illegally downloaded music. But this approach to collecting money in order to recover from major financial 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.
After this unsuccessful attempt to collect money, Broadcast Music Inc is now suing T-Mobile over ring back tones, contesting that the cell phone company is selling them without agreeing to licensing agreements. Instead of ring tones, which play out loud when someone calls a cellphone, ring back tones play expressly to the person calling. That is to say, instead of hearing a cellphone dialing tone, the caller will hear a song 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.
Specific bands have been skirting the issue of music downloading through unique tactics. Radiohead, an alternative rock band, established a website where fans can download the music for free, or for a donation. Nine Inch Nails’ Trent Reznor has followed suit. With record companies’ unsuccessful lawsuits and declining public image, it seems as though thinking outside of the box and fair pricing may be more effective than bullying money out of mobile carriers and individual users.
Mallory Megan is employed by a debt collection company. She also writes articles on business, finance, the credit industry and collection agencies.