RIAA wants 30% from XM, Sirius

[The Chief]

I forget where this came up, but I remembered some talk about it in another thread, so I thought I'd post this for the benefit of those interested.

As satellite radio continues to grow in popularity, the RIAA believes it should get a 30% slice of the pie

Sirius Chief Financial Officer David Frear believes that satellite radio companies (i.e. Sirius and XM) shouldn't be obliged to have to pay higher royalties to record companies -- but the RIAA feels that it should get 30% of the revenues.  Sirius and XM both already pay royalty fees to record companies so both companies are able to play copyrighted music over the radio.  Both parties have until June 30, 2006, to reach an agreement, or an arbitrator will then be called in to help settle the case.      

"There's been some tough talk from some of the labels," he said. Record labels haven't been happy with Sirius's new S50 radio which includes an MP3 player that allows users to record several hours of programming. The music industry insists that because of this "interactive" service, which is entitled to higher fees, satellite radio companies should have to step up and pay more.

Considering XM and Sirius have already spend billions on the infrastructure alone, high royalties like the ones proposed could cripple (contentwise and financially) either company overnight.

http://www.dailytech.com/article.aspx?newsid=1094

[TextileWolf]

The RIAA is going to do such a good job protecting the artists/labels, that no one is going to listen to anything.

[tomterp]

If it's at all possible for anyone to be more greedy than MLB, it would have to be RIAA.  FM and AM don't have to pay royalties, why should XM?

Anyway, both Sirius and XM are losing their shirts, trying to woo subscribers to get to a critical mass where they can eke out a profit.  If you diverted 30% of an already inadequate revenue stream, that would be the death of satellite radio.  

Notice they are not worried about people recorded FM any more, cause for the most part, there's nothing worth recording.

[Agoia]

Independent record labels FTW, I only Buy records that are worth buying ie- no warner, no sony, etc...

Also, how freaking long have tape decks been around with tape recorders that can get this, store music for future listening, without buying it, off the radio!  ZOMG fine tape companies forcreating devices that allow recording and shut down FM/AM stations that broadcast copyrighted music FOR FREE!