Music Fans Find Online Jukebox Half-Empty

If you’re buying into the online music services hype, well, think again: A hornet’s nest of performance and publishing copyright laws, marketing decisions, artists’ egos and negotiating power plays can stop people from legally buying songs on the Internet, just as millions are trying to do so for the first time.

“Contracts between musicians and labels signed before about 1998 do not include language spelling out how the parties should be paid for Internet music sales, or the digital rights, so contracts must be renegotiated, which often takes months. Best-selling musicians who have more control over their songs can hold out for more money from their labels before agreeing to sell their songs on the Internet. Many musicians have trepidations about the Internet because they think of it as the place where their songs get stolen.”

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