The record industry is expected to hear today, that a multibillion pound royalty offer was rejected by agencies that collect for these sums for musicians. This will have a negative impact on the timetable for download services. The reason being is, now they will be forced to negotiate country by country. The concept put forward by the music industry, was a flat rate percentage to be honored on a blanket type basis accross the board. Having said that, iTunes does plan to launch in the UK next week and Sony will join the competition at the end of the month.
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Sources close to the collection societies said that they were not yet prepared to strike a treaty on music downloads without further negotiation with the record companies. Universal Music Group and EMI are among the groups that have offered the terms of the proposed treaty. The new offer compares with the existing royalty payment of 9 per cent for sales of CDs in Europe and 8.5 per cent in the UK, and the pan-regional rate of 6 per cent for DVDs. A source amiliar withclose to the situation said: 'Throughout all negotiations between record companies and the collection societies it has always been the artists that backed down and took a lower rate.There is always a situation where you decide not to let that happen again." |
Good to see that the agencies are not going to just roll over and play dead. Possibly, they have an upper hand this time, in that money is being lost daily until an agreement is finalised. Although, as we have seen with Napster, downloadable music is already more expensive in the UK than elsewhere. We have to wonder if any extra funds directed to the artists will have to be passed on to the consumer. If so, the question is: Who will pay the price?
Source: Times Online
