ASCAP demands additional payment for custom ringtones
Published: July 2, 2009
Updated 4 months ago
Ring ring ka-ching.
If the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP) gets its way, phone carriers will have to pay more money every time a customized cell phone rings in public—which ASCAP, a fierce non-profit defender of performers’ rights—claims is copyright violation.
In a press release, the civil liberties advocacy group Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) urges a federal court to reject ASCAP’s “bogus” claims, warning that the royalty fight “could raise costs for consumers, jeopardize consumer rights, and curtail new technological innovation.”
Musical ringtones have been popular for as long as cell phones have been personally customized. Song owners get royalty payments from cell phone carriers for the right to sell clips of their tunes to customers.
But ASCAP feels they aren’t compensated enough, hence the court case.
The EFF describes ASCAP’s effort as “part of a ploy to squeeze more money out of the mobile phone companies.”
ASCAP says it is not planning to charge cell phone users, just the service providers.
Further excerpts from the EFF press release:
“This is an outlandish argument from ASCAP,” said EFF Senior Intellectual Property Attorney Fred von Lohmann. “Are the millions of people who have bought ringtones breaking the law if they forget to silence their phones in a restaurant? Under this reasoning from ASCAP, it would be a copyright violation for you to play your car radio with the window down!”
…[I]f ASCAP prevails, consumers could find themselves targeted by other copyright owners for “public performances.” Worse, these wrongheaded legal claims cast a shadow over innovators who are building gadgets that help consumers get the most from their copyright privileges.
“Because it is legal for consumers to play music in public, it’s also legal for my mobile phone carrier to sell me a
ringtone and a phone to do it,” said von Lohmann. “Otherwise it would be illegal to sell all kinds of technologies that help us enjoy our fair use, first sale, and other copyright privileges.”
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They see the popularity of it and want a bigger slice. Everybody is feeling the pinch of getting as much money as they can.
The thing about ASCAP is that they pay out less to their artists than any other performance rights organization. They only pay off if you happen to be Micheal “I’m dead now” Jackson or someone on that level. If you are some indy band that is on their roster but haven’t sold a few billion copies, you will NEVER see a penny of that. This is all the lawyers at the top who want more money for doing NOTHING.
Fuck ‘em.
OK, let’s all just stop buying CDs and downloading music.
WOW! I cant believe these fuckers think that just because a shitty ring tone that is barely audible to the people around me should be taxed even more than they are. KISS MY ASS!!!!!!!!!
They want money every time your ring-tone goes off? Do they even know how many times a phone rings… per day? It’s not just a small amount of money… they want to bankrupt the phone industry and take that money for themselves these people don’t know how to do business properly. They should if anything ask the service providers for money each time we download a ring tone… after all we pay them so they should get the money- but- this is ridiculous.
Public performance? “Excuse me, sir, but my cell phone is about to ring, and if you want to hear it ring, you must pay me….” “Next performance, 4:32 PM, no food allowed….” Question: is a ringtone LONG enough to qualify for copyright or has ASCAP run afoul of 37 CFR 202.1???? Just because something happens in public, is it necessarily a “public performance”? If I have a heart attack in public and everyone watches me die, can I be sued by the “Street Actors Guild” because I am not a paying member of their union, and can city hall fine me for having a “public performance” without filling out the proper permit paperwork in advance?
Everytime I hear a song I hate, I am going to bill them for being a nuisance to my well being.
Everytime I hear a ring tone song in public, I’m going to loudly say, “EXCUSE ME, but because of your ring tone I have to pay more for MY CELLPHONE service!”
Composers work for a living. If you use their stuff, PAY FOR IT.
Do you WORK FOR FREE?
NO? then SHUT UP.
You must work for ASCAP.
do you pay for a song everytime you want to listen to it? even if you own the CD? No.
So why don’t you shut the fuck up.
Just hang up. The ring tone is simply a way to sell more cell phones. Give them their money and then let them join the dinosaurs. The whole industry is a rip off.
How do composers make a living? By writing music and getting it published. When it is performed, they get a tiny, TINY amount each time. Same as a book… if you don’t want to pay for COPYRIGHTED music, don’t use it!
if you buy the ring tone once, does that mean you should buy it each time your phone rings? Because, you tool, that is exactly what is happening here. These costs will be passed on to the consumer.
I buy the song once. I have it, I should have to keep buyiig over and over.
Technically, the copyright law allows them to be entitled to the money. The arrogance is really on the side of the phone companies for using the music without having worked this out in the first place.
My phone goes ring….ring….ring….ring….
Anyone know who wrote it ????
ASCAP, a fierce non-profit defender of performers’ . Really?
ASCAP is no more a defender of performers than the bank regulators are defenders of our money. HA.
This is way outside the realm of copyright. ITs ridiculous.
ASCAP is a loser org and they are just trying to survive by leeching. Business as usual in the skank music world (not the real one).
My ring tone is shut off and the phone just vibrates. Who do I pay?
The copyright law does NOT take away your right to have a phone ring playing whatever tone you want. Go to the EFF website and read their statement on it. It clearly explains how this is NOT a violation of copyright like ASCAP is saying.
And get real here. Do you REALLY think that ASCAP is going to pay our so much as a dime to ANY composer for this? This money is going to go to the heads of the organization, no one else. ASCAP pays out less to the lesser artists than any other performance rights organization. They have for their entire existence. Unless you are in their top 10%, you don’t see a dime. If it were BMI that were doing this, at least you might see a few $ from it. ASCAP, NOT A CHANCE. And how much should one have to pay for the use of 10 seconds of a song? You can bet they want FAR more than it’s worth.
The industry now is a den of thieves and vipers. Those who do the actual creative work are the ones who get screwed the most. Don’t think for a minute that this is an acceptable cost, it’s NOT going to the artist at all. And it’s well within the “fair use” rights that you already have unless this is allowed to go through. It’s just one more way in which industry is trying to screw you for every dollar that you don’t have anymore.
And for the record, I AM in the business. I have been a professional musician for 35 years, and I am disgusted by what my industry has turned into.