SGA and allies seek transparency/fairness in CRB royalty rate-setting
December 2002
The SGA - along with its ally organizations, the Society of Composers and Lyricists and Music Creators North America - in December approached the US House and Senate Judiciary Committees seeking reforms to the Copyright Royalty Board (CRB) music royalty rate-setting process.
In a letter to the Committees, SGA Outside Counsel Charlie Sanders reported on a recent deal that would have shut creators out of a decision to continue to freeze their royalty increases. That deal would have had record labels continue to pay music creators and publishers at 2006 rates through the year 2027, providing just 9.1 cents per copy for musical compositions distributed in the U.S. via download or physical copy. Such royalties, once split among co-writers and publishers, would have amounted on average to a rate of less than two cents per copy for each individual songwriter and composer...
