Is there any sane person left in the music industry?

According to CNET, both the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) and Broadcast Music Inc. (BMI) have gone to Apple over being paid performance fees for streaming radio audio, for music played in downloads of films and TV shows, and 30-second song samples.

If you are not familiar with “performance fees”, those are fees collected from any public performance of music.  If you hear music in a dance club, at a stadium, in restaurants and so on, they all have to pay a performance fee for that music being played to enhance a public place, or used as an attraction.  This includes music played over radios as I have discussed before, although the main part of that case was with the PRS in Scotland, but it is the same thing.  It basically boils down to that if anyone else can hear your music, that is considered a “performance”, and you have to pay for it.  (Remember, ASCAP also tried to prove that ringtones constituted a performance you should pay for)

So, Apple has told ASCAP and BMI they aren’t going to pay these fees, and while no specifics were given, I think we can pretty quickly figure out Apple’s thinking in each particular situation.

Fees for music played on the streaming radio stations in iTunes – Um … does ASCAP walk up to Sony and go, “Hey, your Walkman brand products have radio tuners in them, so you need to pay us a performance fee for those devices receiving those songs.”  No … they don’t.  The radio stations are responsible for paying the performance fee in this case, if Apple was forced to pay, then every company that has ever manufactured a radio would have to pay also, and that just makes no sense.  It would also be a case of … anyone? … anyone?  Yes -points to the picture above- double dipping.

Fees for music included in downloads of films and TV shows – The studios are responsible for paying these fees, that is why a show like WKRP in Cincinnati was released without the bulk of its original music due to licensing fees.  To expect Apple to pay this sort of fee would be like ASCAP walking in to Best Buy and going, “Yeah, you need to pay us a performance fee on the music contained in every DVD you sell.”  They’ve already received a fee from the studio, now they want one from the retailer to boot?  This would be yet another case of … double dipping.

Fees for 30-second song samples – Yes, according to ASCAP and BMI, that 30-second song sample you listen to before purchasing a song on iTunes constitutes a public performance.  Yeah, feel free to scratch your head like I did.  First off, it is being used as a promotional tool to help sell more of those songs, something the music industry benefits from.  Secondly, 30-seconds falls under “fair use”.  Either way you look at it, the music industry wants Apple to pay them for the right to help them, the music industry, sell more songs.  Yep … you guessed it … more double dipping.

Apple has said no to every aspect of this request, and now ASCAP and BMI are saying they will take it to congress.  Here’s hoping someone in congress has the guts to ask these two idiotic bodies, “what exactly are you smoking, and where can we get some?”

There is no portion of this “request” that makes even an inkling of sense.  Every aspect of it deals with something the music industry already receives money for, or there is at least a precedent of “Why Apple, and why not any other way this same activity is conducted somewhere else?”  The answer is simple really: Everyone thinks Steve Jobs swims in a solid gold pool.

There is no denying that Apple has made a lot of money from music, and they deserve it for being innovators in content delivery, but that doesn’t mean the music industry is more deserving of more money from Apple than say a traditional retailer pays.

Someone just needs to smack these people up side their collective heads.