performance rights

Billboard.biz has a bit of an opinion piece from Jeremy Thorpe, a partner at PriceWaterhouseCoopers and the leader of its Australian economics team. Titled "Rates Should Reflect Music's True Value," it is a timely article.

The House Subcommittee on Courts, the Internet and Intellectual Property passed the Performance Rights Act today. Up for consideration is terrestrial radio's exemption from paying performance royalties for the use of sound recordings.

• Coldplay's Viva la Vida sold over 700,000 units in its first week if release in the U.S. and about one-third were digital downloads. EMI has treated the album's release like a pop culture event and fans have responded.

Congressmen Jim Cooper and John Hall (also known as the guy from Orleans you saw on "The Colbert Report") had a town hall meeting in Nashville on Sat

Here's what went on at the hearing before the House Judiciary Committee's Subcommittee on Courts, the Internet, and Intellectual Property.

Nancy Sinatra spoke on behalf of musicFIRST. "In no other business is the promise of promotion justification for the taking of someone's product."

Opposing sides will speak tomorrow before the House Subcommittee on Courts, the Internet, and Intellectual Property. The issue is H.R. 4789, the Performance Rights Act, which calls for terrestrial radio to pay performance royalties for broadcasting sound recordings.

• A House hearing on the Performance Rights Act has been scheduled for June 11. The bill would require terrestrial radio to pay copyright owners for use of sound recordings. Currently radio stations pay only for the composition. (Radio Ink)

• SpiralFrog, provider of free, ad-supported P2P, has inked a deal to offer EMI Music's recorded music. The company has deals in place with a number of music publishers and Universal Music Group on the recorded music side. With EMI and UMG in place, SpiralFrog has about half of the major label market share for recorded music.

At the Country Radio Seminar in Nashville, a late cancellation by Sean Hannity resulted in a keynote panel discussion on performance rights for sound recordings on terrestrial. I couldn't score a press pass, but David M. Ross from Music Row was there and has a post on the panel.