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Re: OT: CARP passed- this sucks.



--- Kim Flint <kflint@loopers-delight.com> wrote:
> At 10:29 PM 6/23/2002, Mark Sottilaro wrote:

>> If SOMA FM gets charged .07 cents to 
>> play one of my songs, and then Sting ends up with .02 cents of it,
>> that's NOT OK with me.
> 
> That shouldn't be ok with you. Does the law say that Sting gets part
> of your money? 

I haven't read it all either (skimmed parts of it), and it probably
doesn't exactly _say_ that, but it's the simple model of distribution
by artist popularity. It's the same bunch of crap that the RIAA tried
to pull back in the 90s (or was it 80s?) when they forced through
legislation to impose a tax on MEDIA which could be used to make
digital copies, and adding copy protection electronics to DAT recorders
and things like that. 

Basically, it amounted to this: if I purchased a blank audio DAT tape
and used it to record MY OWN MUSIC, I paid a tax for that media, which
presumed that I was going to recording SOME COMMERCIAL MUSIC. The
proceeds from this tax was distributed according to sales statistics.
So...I bought a tape to record my stuff on, and Michael Jackson made
money off me,'cause he was big on the sales charts at the time. That is
just flat wrong. I wasn't into his music, and I didn't want my money
going to him. AND I was being unfairly criminalized by the prosumption
that I was going to make a copy of a commercial recording when I bought
a blank DAT.

> If money is collected for you and owed to you, then go demand it.

Sure, demand all you want. Pay your lawyer thousands of dollars to
fight the legion of lawyers they maintain on staff. All to retrieve
that $2.20 you "earned" 'cause an internet radio outfit played your
song for a couple of months. 

> If the RIAA got themselves signed 
> up to collect money for you, then it is their problem to see to it
> that you get paid your share. But if they don't pay you it is your
> problem to go 
> stick up for yourself and protect your own rights to that money.

How are you going to know how much is owned you, if anything? I sure
don't know today. I send 100 demo CDs to college radio stations hoping
they play something off it, maybe they do, maybe not, but I sure don't
know about it. How would I find out? Well, maybe they pay ASCAP and
ASCAP sends me a check. Um...maybe. Maybe ASCAP sends my check to
Sting. Who's to know?

> Nobody is going to fight that battle for you, but if you ask me 
> it seems like a pretty easy battle.

I completely disagree. If you have limited resources to fight the
battle, and your opponent has virtually unlimited resources, you have
virtually zero chance of success. They just play you with repeated
appeals and such until you run out of time, or money to continue the
fight. End of the story. The legal system in this country basically
works like this; whoever has the most money wins. 

Greg

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