Digital Music Deal Nearly Done, but Web Radio Darling Pandora Not Out of the Woods

Web music site operators and the music industry have worked out the major points in a deal that will reduce the fees Web site operators will pay for music streaming rights. A final deal between the Digital Media Association, which is representing the Web sites, and SoundExchange, which collects royalties on behalf of the music labels and other copyright owners, isn’t expected until later this year. But “the hard stuff has been done,” says Pandora founder Tim Westergren, who has become the public face of Webcasters during negotiations.

RIAA (Recording Industry Against Artists)

Fee! Fie! Foe! Fum!?? I Smell the Blood of a Musician.

The Recording Industry Association of America demands damages of $150,000 per song for file-sharing infringements, yet it pays the artists who create those songs pennies for their work. And now it wants to pay them even less. The RIAA and its online counterpart, the Digital Media Association, have petitioned the Copyright Royalty Board to slash [...]