Record Companies Resort To Different Tactics To Collect Money
January 16, 2010 by Takara Alexis
Filed under Finance
It seems as though record companies have developed a new game plan in order to collect royalties. As we all know, the music industry attempted to sue individual users who illegally downloaded songs. But because of this approach to recover from major fiscal loss has destroyed their public image.
Rather than lowering the cost of albums in order to compete with free music circulating through the internet, record companies have turned to collection agencies who are now suing cellphone companies over royalties from ring tones. They contested that ring tones counted as public performances and therefore cell phone companies should be obligated to pay performance fees. The courts quickly shot this down.
Despite this unsuccessful attempt to collect on royalties, Broadcast Music Inc is now suing T-Mobile over ring back tones, claiming that the mobile carrier is selling them without licensing agreements. Unlike ring tones, which play out loud when someone calls a cellphone, ring back tones play specifically to the person calling. In other words, instead of hearing a cellphone dialing, the caller will hear a song that was chosen by the cell owner.
Music lovers are quick to point out the contradictory nature of this lawsuit. If ringtones that can be heard by anyone around a cellphone that is being called, do not equate to a public performance, it seems absurd to sue the mobile carriers over a ringback tone that can be heard only by the caller. Record companies seem to be grasping at straws as they suffer from huge financial losses.
It does not seem that lowering the cost of CDs and DVDs is an idea that has occurred to the major companies. There are still a number of music fans out there that prefer to collect and own the media, however with prices constantly spiking, downloading music for free seems very tempting. CDs generally go on sale for about seventeen dollars.
Specific bands have been skirting the issue of music downloading through unique tactics. Radiohead, an alternative rock band, established a website where fans can download the music for free, or for a donation. Nine Inch Nails\’ Trent Reznor has followed suit. With record companies\’ unsuccessful lawsuits and declining public image, it seems as though thinking outside of the box and fair pricing may be more effective than bullying money out of mobile carriers and individual users.
Mallory McGuinness-Hickey is employed by debt collection company Rapid Recovery Solution and writes free lance pieces on financial news. You are welcome to reprint this article – but get your own unique content version here.
categories: debt collection lawyers,debt collection solution,financial debt recovery,business collection,lawsuits,finance,Collection Agencies,Music Industry,Finance,Business
