Wednesday, July 11, 2007

SoundExchange: The Lies Continue...

SoundExchange sent out a letter to their members on June 20, 2007. It is availible in full here: http://www.kurthanson.com/myths/soundex_letter.shtml.
Here are just a few of their lies, followed by the facts:

"14 of the 20 largest webcasters, some who comprise DiMA and
SaveNetRadio, have market capitalization ranging from one billion to
several hundred billion dollars."

Count the over $1 billion Webcasting companies with me: AOL (one), Clear Channel (two), MTV Networks (three), Real Networks (four), Yahoo! (five)...oops! an F in Arithmetic for SoundExchange. And there are 4 companies (Sony/BMG, Warner Music, Universal Music Group, EMI) with over $1 billion in market cap which each have a seat on the SoundExchange Board of Directors.

"Recently lastfm.com-which had
enjoyed significant subsidies through its small webcaster status was
sold to CBS Corporation for $280 million, none of which went to
artists or copyright holders"

...One, last.fm was not subject to any U.S.royalties because they are located in London, UK. They Are subject to royalties under UK laws paid to a UK organization. Two, this week Sony/BMG, a company with a seat on the SoundExchange Board of Directors,
signed a licensing deal with last.fm. Under this deal last.fm will pay a flat fee to Sony/BMG and Sony/BMG waives all royalties to be owed to them by last.fm. So Artists, instead of getting a percentage of those royalties, get Nothing.

"The Bridge Report says that the
average internet user listens to approximately 40 hours of music per
month. So in 2007 the cost of royalties per month for the average
user would be approximately 65 cents per month. In 2010 the cost of
royalties per month for that user would be approximately $1.12 per month, a little over 12 dollars a year. (Yes, that's all)".

Let's see, $12/year times Live365's 4.5 million listeners equals $54 million/year (plus an additional $5 million in new 'administrative fees' not shared with Artists), as opposed to the $1 million Live365 paid in royalties for 2006 (under the old rates). Let's see...Revenues in 2010 up 54 times above 2006...nice work if you can get it. Of course under the new rates Live365 will go bankrupt, so there will be Zero going to Artists.

Live365.com/choice. July 15th the new rates go into effect. Please act now!
Clarence Jones
OlioRadio.net

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