FCC payola probe boosts indie music
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WASHINGTON  - Independent recording artists will get a clearer shot at the airwaves under a deal cut by the big radio station groups and indie labels as part of the federal payola investigation.
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Three major record labels have inked a deal with a peer-to-peer company to bring paid song downloads to music fans, apparently supporting a technology that the industry has tried to stifle in the past.
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By Jeff Leeds  Radio broadcasters have long been accused of corrupting the public airwaves by accepting bribes from corporate music giants.  But in a pair of agreements disclosed Monday, U.S.
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Later this year, portable music subscription services will offer to fill your MP3 player with tunes for a monthly fee. Here's a preview of one of the first.
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The decision of how much performers should be compensated when their works are played on radio, drew one big step closer to a workable compromise last week, though now it's the collection agency that's raising the red flag.
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Broadband Instruments, a stealth company first covered here, launches its Slacker music ecosystem soon. In Listening Post.
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A funny thing has happened in the 18 months since Apple Computer launched its iTunes Music Store, offering legal music downloads for 99 cents.
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Scads of music services are making a power play for your digital dollars. We shine a light into the murk and pick out the gems. By Mathew Honan from Wired Test.
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(InfoWorld) - Peer-to-peer (p-to-p) file-sharing software developer Lime Wire has countersued the biggest record companies, charging them with anti-competitive behavior. The suit, filed Monday in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, follows the closing of most of the popular file-sharing Web sites due to lawsuits initiated by record companies. It also comes on the heels of a suit filed by 13 record companies against Lime Wire, accusing the developer of music piracy and demanding damages that could amount to $476 million. Lime Wire now charges the record companies with colluding to create a monopoly over the digital distribution of copyrighted music. The record companies "have engaged in these unfair business practices for the specific purpose of eliminating sources of decentralized peer-to-peer file sharing and acquiring a monopoly over digital distribution of commercially valuable copyrighted music and movie content," the lawsuit reads. The alleged unfair business practices include collusion among the record companies to price their licensing rates such that independent music sellers can't afford to stay in business, Lime Wire said. Lime Wire added that a since-changed policy at the record companies of requiring licensees to negotiate only with certain companies that represent a group of record labels resulted in artificially high licensing fees. Lime Wire also charges the record companies with trying to extend their monopoly by forcing music distributors to work only with their affiliated filtering system supplier. Lime Wire says it developed a filtering application to prevent illegal downloading and encourage legal content purchasing. But the record companies refused to give the developer access to the metadata that uniquely identifies each song in order for the filtering system to work, Lime Wire claims. Instead, Lime Wire alleges the record companies encouraged Lime Wire to use their preferred supplier for a P-to-P filtering system, iMesh. While Lime Wire concedes that iMesh is not owned by the record companies, it alleges the supplier is controlled by the record companies. A top executive at iMesh is a former leader of the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and iMesh is the only RIAA-sanctioned business of its kind in the U.S., according to Lime Wire. Lime Wire is asking for a jury trial. The record companies named in the suit include Arista Records, Atlantic Recording, BMG Music, Capital Records, Electra Entertainment Group, Interscope Records, Laface Records, Motown Record Company, Priority Records, Sony BMG Entertainment, UMG Recordings, Virgin Records America, and Warner Bros. Records. The suit follows some high profile settlements by other leading p-to-p networks. In July,Â Kazaa agreed to payÂ at least $100 million to four record companies and an additional amount to motion picture companies to settle lawsuits. Earlier this month, eDonkeyÂ agreed to pay $30 millionÂ to settle similar suits. EDonkey's founder last year predicted that all U.S. p-to-p companies wouldÂ cease to existÂ because they wouldn't have the resources to defend themselves against the record companies after a Supreme CourtÂ ruling against Grokster. That ruling vaguely said that p-to-p software developers may be liable for illegal use of the software.
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The British music industry wants to help independent labels utilise the potential for download sales.
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Most musicians and artists say the  Internet has helped them make more money from their work  despite online file-trading services that allow users to copy  songs and other material for free, according to a study  released on Sunday.
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By SETH SUTEL NEW YORK - Internet music broadcasters worry that a new ruling could put many of them out of business by drastically increasing the royalty payments they have to make to record labels and artists.
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Several new online services  have emerged with their own takes on digital music discovery.
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New York's attorney general aims at the shady practice of payola in the music industry.
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Internet radio royalties are a growing source of income that are just beginning to have an impact on artists and record companies.
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The eMusic Selects service provides exposure -- and deals -- for underrepresented artists.
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A Washington copyright panel that more than doubled fees U.S. Internet radio stations must pay for music is being called the industry's possible executioner.