Sony Sued by It’s Own Artists
Posted by Jeff Chenkus on April 28, 2006
Filed Under Audio | Stumble This
In what seems like an easy win for the bands involved, Cheap Trick and The Allman Brothers, they are suing Sony because they believe that they are being paid on digital downloads as if the customer was buying a CD rather than as licensed music. There is a huge difference in what Sony owes their artists if they were to lose this suit.
Sony treating these sales the same as CD’s means that they pay the artists about 4.5 cents per song. If the music were sold as licensed music, the artists would collect approximately 30 cents. It is no wonder that Sony has been paying royalties this way, they are making 25.5 cents per song more than they should.
Thing is, the lower fee includes fees by Sony for such things as packaging charges, restocking costs and losses due to breakage. Now it is obvious that none of this pertains to the digital sale, and they are merely using that deal because they make much more money. On the face this would seem like a slam dunk by the artists, but we all know how these things can get turned around once the lawyers get their hands on it. If in the end these artists win, Sony will be in a world of trouble when every other one of their artists will realize they have been getting ripped off too.
Posted by Jeff
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