Industry news

 

    US court rewards musicians in royalties case

    Fri 02-May-2008

    A US federal court has decided that online streamers of music should pay royalties to musicians in a landmark ruling, it has been reported.

    The New York district court announced a public decision that AOL, RealNetworks and Yahoo should compensate songwriters and composers for online use of their work from July 2002 through to December 2009, according to CNN.

    It announced that based on a formula the court had derived, payments should be made to the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) that could reach $100 million (£50 million).

    Academy Award-winning lyricist Marilyn Bergman, who is ASCAP's president and chairman, said: "The court's finding represents a major step toward proper valuation of the music contributions of songwriters, composers and publishers to these types of online businesses - many of which have built much of their success on the foundation of the creative works of others."

    "This decision will go a long way toward protecting the ability of songwriters and composers to be compensated fairly as the use of musical works online continues to grow," she added.

    ASCAP is a non-profit performance rights organisation that claims to represent over 315,000 members.
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