Music Regulation Roundup: Dutch Levy on MP3 Players Postponed; U.S. Publishing Split Recommendations

Couple of pieces of news on both sides of the Atlantic, which is food for thought in the music industry:
Dutch postpone copyright levy for MP3 players: A Dutch industry group has postponed levying a copyright tax on digital music players and hard-disk video recorders, saying it would wait for the European Commission to first make a recommendation…Electronics manufacturers oppose a European levy on such things, but the industry group SONT favors it, of course. It will return to the issue in February. The EC is due to make its recommendation in December…in a draft, the Commission said the copyright tax, typically imposed at the import level, obstructs the EU’s internal market and should be applied more narrowly.
The music kings fight over royalties: Meanwhile Jon Healey writes in the LAT blog that music publishing payment agreement to the agencies from the music labels is up for renewal in 2008, and both sides are split over how. The labels currently have to pay publishing arms such as the Harry Fox Agency 9.1 cents for every song recorded by their artists, and it’s a payment due on each CD track or authorized download. Now the labels are asking for a revenue percentage-based split (a rate of 8% of wholesale revenue, which translates to roughly 6 cents per download and 8 cents per song on a CD), so that they can experiment with various digital models and variable pricing etc, but the agencies want a fixed rate: 15 cents per download, 15 cents per ringtone (as a minimum; they’ll accept a percentage of ringtone revenues if it yields more money) and 12.5 cents per song on a disc. The issue is up before a copyright royalty board now.

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