This came across my virtual desk. Thought I'd share. I'll clean it up a bit later.
For those playing along at home. The RIAA is the five big record companies. the NMPA is the songwriters and publishers.
> FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
>
> On Monday, January 28, the Copyright Royalty Board (CRB) begins the
> hearing that will determine mechanical rates for every songwriter
and
> music publisher in America. It will be the most important rate
> hearing in the history of the music industry because in addition to
> setting rates for physical products, rates will be set for the first
> time ever for digital products such as digital downloads,
subscription
> services and ringtones.
>
> The National Music Publishers' Association (NMPA) will be
representing
> the interests of songwriters and music publishers and will be
fighting
> vigorously to protect those interests to ensure that musical
> compositions are compensated fairly.
>
> On the other side of this fight stands the Recording Industry
> Association of America (RIAA) and the Digital Music Association
> (DiMA). Both the RIAA and DiMA have proposed significant reductions
> in mechanical royalty rates that would be disastrous for songwriters
> and music publishers. This is literally a fight for the survival of
> our industry.
>
> To give you an example of what is at stake, the current rate for
> physical phonorecords is 9.1 cents. The NMPA is proposing an
increase
> to 12.5 cents per song. The RIAA, however, has proposed slashing the
> rate to approximately 6 cents a song - a cut of more than one-third
> the current rate!
>
> For permanent digital downloads, NMPA is proposing a rate of 15
cents
> per track because the costs involved are much less than for physical
> products. The RIAA has proposed the outrageous rate of approximately
> 5 - 5.5 cents per track, and DiMA is proposing even less.
>
> If you find that troubling, it gets worse. For interactive streaming
> services, which some analysts believe will be the future of the
music
> industry, NMPA is proposing a rate of the greater of 12.5% of
revenue,
> 27.5% of content costs, or a micro-penny calculation based on usage.
> The RIAA actually proposed that songwriters and music publishers
> should get the equivalent of .58% of revenue. This isn't a typo -
> less than 1%. And DiMA is taking the shocking and offensive position
> that songwriters' and music publishers' mechanical rights should be
> zero, because DiMA does not believe we have any such rights!
>
> The initial hearing will last four weeks, with the three permanent
> Copyright Royalty Judges hearing arguments Mondays through Thursdays
> from 9:30 am - 4:30 pm each day. At the conclusion of the initial
> hearing, there will be more discovery, followed by a rebuttal
hearing
> in May, and a final decision expected on October 2.
>
> The NMPA will be spending millions dollars in this proceeding to
> protect the interests of songwriters and music publishers against
the
> much larger record labels and digital media companies. And although
> we face such an enormous fight, we have an incredible advantage - we
> represent songwriters, without whom the record labels and digital
> music services could not exist.
>
> Please forward this to anyone who is involved in the songwriting and
> music publishing industry. We will be sending out regular updates as
> the CRB progresses to keep you informed. Through your networks, we
> hope to reach the vast majority of the industry. If you did not
> receive this directly, and would like to be added to the master NMPA
> communications list, please send your contact information to Jamie
> Marotta at jmarotta@nmpa.org.
Published
28 January 2008