In yet another bizarre demand, the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP) is demanding that mobile operators pay licensing fees because their customers use ringtones. In a nutshell, according to ASCAP, when your mobile phone rings with a copyrighted ringtone, it counts as a public performance.
Even more bizarre is Verizon's agreement to pay $5 million to ASCAP ... [ read the full article ]
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this has been one of the most ridiculous demand ive seen on afterdawn for the past 2 years..and ive seen some s**t (as we all did).
first they take money when the companies sell the ringtone then they see it a crime that the ringtone is actually used?! or using their words "public performance"?! ITS A RING-TONE !!! what did you expect? that people who have ringtones will use earphones to know when someone is calling them?! you greedy good for nothing jackasses!!
i personally intend to find out where are their offices take a f***ing plane and leave a cheap 70$ phone in a brown bag playing ringtones in a loop and take a dump on top of the phone and a note will read "public performance. shut it off. i dare you"
The one thing that makes no sense is a ring tone doesn't play the song in it's entirety so how can it be called a public performance,somebody shoot these idiots already
Originally posted by scorpNZ: The one thing that makes no sense is a ring tone doesn't play the song in it's entirety so how can it be called a public performance,somebody shoot these idiots already
Agreed. As a music artist myself, I know what kind of licensing and royalties composers/writers should expect. I GUARANTEE you that less than 1% of any additional 'performance' royalties will not make it back to ASCAP members.
If an artist/label is selling a CD/Download/RINGTONE, then you have only 1 type of royality, and thats called a mechanical royalty for the transactional sale. You get XX amount per unit sold. You can't then go BACK to the same consumers who bought your product and ask for performance royalties as they might have purchased it, but never have used it, or never used it outside of their own personal presence. (I've done this for weeks when I'm working a lot and have my phone on vibrate for 23 hours a day.)
The next, logical step is to go after someone with REALLY deep pockets. How about Sony, for boom boxes? If a ringtone is a public performance, certainly a boombox is. And audio splitters. And every speaker system for an iPod. They allow more than one listener, so that must be a public performance too.
