Japanese music labels want iPod tax

October 10, 2005

Steve Jobs may have stirred up a hornets nest when he accused music labels of being greedy. It is being reported today that in Japan, the music labels there are requesting a 2 to 5 percent tax on iPods to help compensate for losses. Money collected in this new royalty would be shared amongst labels, songwriters and artists.

The labels complain that Apple - which makes no significant income through music sales - makes money from iPod sales, and want a slice of that income, too.

Artists, meanwhile, are beginning to dissent with major-label opinion that music piracy is damaging to artists, not least because most major label contracts impose a far lower royalty-payment system on downloads.

Artists cry 'foul'
Artists are furious that they can receive as little as 4.5p from every 79p download, with the majority of the money going to the labels. While labels justify this by saying they have had to invest in anti-piracy initiatives, artists point out that they also subsidise such investments.

What do you think? If someone creates a product and it's sales is dependant upon a "raw material" from another source, does this mean the raw material supplier is entitled to a slice of the pie from the final product?

Source: MacWorld