Royalties

In truth, iTunes only accounts for 5% of Apple's revenue, but we all know that it's really there as a Trojan horse to get people to buy iPods/iPhones, equate Apple with more than just computers, and make people buy the wrong versions of songs. Today, that small chunk of income for Apple may become even smalller, as a panel of appointed judges called the Copyright Royalty Board (snooze alert of a

A federal judge ruled Wednesday that The SCO Group must pay more than $2.5 million in royalties to Novell for licensing the Unix computer operating system software to Sun Microsystems. The decision by U.S. District Judge Dale Kimball in Salt Lake City came in the long-running dispute between Novell... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

The son of The Godfather creator Mario Puzo sued Paramount Pictures on Wednesday, claiming the studio failed to pay royalties from a 2006 video game based on the book and movie characters. Anthony... Continue reading at The Chicago Syndicate

The U.S. Supreme Court yesterday limited the ability of patent holders to demand royalties from companies at each stage of the production process. The ruling, against LG Electronics Inc., supports the doctrine that a patent holder who sells an...

"Britain's artistic community is battling against leading auction houses and dealers to bring in a law forcing the payment of a royalty on artists' works for 70 years after their deaths -- in line with writers and musicians. Most auction houses and dealers are opposed to the law -- claiming that2 Vote(s)

PT Newmont Nusa Tenggara (NNT) has paid the Indonesian government Rp41 billion in quarter I (January-March 2008) royalties, PT NNT spokesman Kasan Mulyono said in his press statement here on Friday.He said that the payment was done at the end of last April and was transferred to the account of the minister of finance.The payment of the royalties was done in accordance with article 13 of the work c

The artists' rights organization ASCAP will be receiving tens of millions in back royalties from 2006, from the leading Web radio broadcasters. But it's much less than what it had proposed, and way less than what royalties groups wanted last year. A long-standing dispute over how much Internet streaming radio services owe in composers' royalties dating back to 2006 was settled yesterday in US District Court in New York. There, Judge William C. Conner issued a decision whose intricate formulas had their data, sadly, redacted from the public copy of the decision (PDF available here, black marks and all), although the end result is that AOL Radio, RealNetworks, and Yahoo will probably find themselves collectively owing more several million in back royalties. There still remains some questio

Aggressively litigious group has claimed to protect musicians in the past. Now believes musicians deserve less for “innovative” music distribution. The writers of the songs get royalty checks from ASCAP or BMI or SESAC. The perofrmers of the songs get royalties from their signed record label (ONLY) after the sale of each and every record [...]

America is often called the land of opportunity. Work hard and play by the rules, we hear, and you can lay claim to all that you have produced. It is the reason people risk death and imprisonment to set foot on American soil year after year. However, this magnificent legacy of freedom, justice, and achievement [...]

If you didn’t hear, NASA is beaming the Beatles tune “Across the Universe” today to the North Star region of space…. You can learn more about this here: Now, the joke is really on the would-be alien listeners, as they only have one chance to hear this “broadcast” as it speeds by them… If they miss it as it passes over their heads (maybe even multiple heads per alien), they will be out of interstellar luck as the duplicating and re-distributing of this message is prohibited by Earth’s, soon to be announced, Intergalactic Copyright Policy.  Rumor has it a new division of R.I.A.A., “Cosmic R.I.A.A.” or possibly, “R.I.A.A. in Space”, will be formed and their lawyers are already pounding out remuneration scenarios for the various unknown species

Aides choose royalties over loyaltiesWASHINGTON - White House press secretaries, who speak for the president and appear before the nation on his behalf, have traditionally kept their secrets while their bosses are in office.That unwritten rule has faded in the face of big advances for political tell-all books.Scott McClellan, who served as White House press secretary for nearly three years of the Bush administration, surprised his former colleagues last week when his publisher released three teaser paragraphs from his upcoming book. The excerpt seemed to blame President Bush for McClellan's false statements during the early days of the CIA leak scandal."The old rules and old standards of what was considered proper and what was not are less and less abided by," said Jody Powell, who served as President Carter's press secretary. "That's true in all walks of life."Plenty of press secretaries have written behind-the-scenes views of the West Wing. But such glimpses have traditionally bee

Kate Moss has told ex Pete Doherty he can keep her royalties from the songs she co-wrote on the latest Babyshambles album. A pal said: “Kate wants Pete to have the royalties. "She was happy to have... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

Ed Stelmach's proposal includes:OIL SANDS*Introduce price-sensitive formulas before and after capital costs are paid out. The payments will slide between 1 percent and 9 percent of revenues with increases starting at an oil price of $55 a barrel and a cap set at $120 a barrel. Post-payout, royalties will be 25 to 40 percent of net profits.NATURAL GAS*Gas royalties will be set on a formula using price and production volume. New royalty rates will range from 5 percent to 50 percent with rate caps at C$17.50 per million British thermal units.*Royalties for natural gas liquids will be set at 40 percent for pentanes and 30 percent for butanes and propane.CONVENTIONAL OIL*Royalties will be linked to well production and price with the government's take rising as high as 50 percent. Rates to be capped if the oil price hits $120 per barrel.Source: Government of AlbertaRead Factbox Uk Reuters Article Here

I would be off my game if I didn't at least mention the very important, some would say shocking, announcement Ed Stelmach made announcing that, yes, Alberta will increase oil sands royalties by January 1, 2009.The increases mean that the money Alberta collects from the energy business could be a staggering 20% higher than the original forecast for 2010, which would equate to a $1.4-billion increase into the province's treasury. What started it all?A report by Alberta's provincial panel said royalties had not kept pace with world energy markets, that all projects in the booming oil rich region should be paying more. "Albertans do not receive their fair share from energy development.""The energy industry has been a phenomenal driver," "It not only affects Alberta ... It's going to set the direction for where this industry goes and where Alberta goes the next five to 10 years." Greg Stringham, vice president of the Canadian Association of Petroleum ProducersAlberta has been negativel

"A government-appointed panel reviewing Alberta's energy royalties called Tuesday for the oil-rich Canadian province to increase its total take from the energy industry by 20 percent a year, or roughly $2 billion Canadian (US $1.97 billion; €1.42 billion)."How will this affect the Albertan Economy?1. Albertan will see more more of the Oil Sands revenue in infrastructure and perhaps more rebate cheques.2. Oil companies worry that rising royalties may slow or hinder production.With the oil prices rising and Alberta's 175 Billion barrels of oil, second only to Saudi Arabia, many companies will pay the royalties to participate in what may be the biggest economic boom of the century.READ MORE

Aggressively litigious group has claimed to protect musicians in the past. Now believes musicians deserve less for “innovative” music distribution. No, see, the royalties go down, the “recording artists” get angry, the RIAA uses the momentum created by thousands of slightly less wealthy “recording artists” all bitching about how filesharing is taking the Lexus’ straight out of their kid’s mouths, the judges start judging in the RIAA’s favor, and then DER! I mean…BAM! Welcome to the Internet 2.0, now with restrictions. The Chinese will feel fortunate, compared to us. Then, in ten years, they’ll make fun of us like we’re Canada, like we make fun of Canada.

The Indonesian government is seeking higher royalties from production at US mining giant Freeport McMoRan's Grasberg mine in the easternmost province of Papua."On the matter of royalties from gold, we are asking that they be raised to 3.5 percent," said Witoro Soelarno, the head of mine inspection at Indonesia's energy ministry. The current royalty level for gold mined by Freeport's local unit according to a 1991 contract stands at 1 percent. Freeport Indonesia is the country's largest taxpayer.Soelarno said the company should pay a higher royalty to the Indonesian government as the purity level of gold mined in the past few years had improved to one gram per every one tonne of ore.Critics accuse Freeport of not giving enough to the people of Papua in return for the mine. They allege the mine causes pollution and that the military's protection of the site leads to human rights abuses.Indonesia News Blog: http://indosnesos.blogspot.com

At a meeting of the House Subcommittee on the Courts, the Internet, and Intellectual Property Tuesday morning, a jovial and outright jocular spirit of bipartisanship prevailed, where both Democrats and Republicans spoke at length of what they characterized as the historically unfair treatment of performance artists by broadcasters who refused to pay for the privilege of playing their works over the radio. More...

Eliot Van Buskirk has published what he calls “A Modest Proposal” for webcasting royalties at Wired.com.  He’s got some excellent ideas, but spends the bulk of the article ignoring one of opening premises: “Label representative SoundExchange appears to hold all of the cards.”  The problem here is not that SoundExchange and the webcasters can’t come to an agreement, it’s that SoundExchange knows that it can use the force of government to get essentially whatever agreement it wants.  As a multi-billion dollar company, SoundExchange has far more ability to lobby, and thus influence, governmental and bureaucratic bodies then some guy streaming music from his home computer. Without the guns of the federal government on its side SoundExchange, or more likely the labels or artists themselves, would be forced to actually negotiate with webcasters in order to determine rates.  Should a webcaster refuse to pay the mandated royalties or refrain from

RESALE ROYALTIES One of the major talking points in the art world of late has been resale royalties. For those of you who are not familiar with the art market and royalties for artists, in most countries artists only get paid when an artwork is sold for the first time on the primary market. For many years there has been a call for artists to receive some sort of financial remuneration for each subsequent sale of their artwork after the artwork leaves the hands of the artist. After all, other people are making money off the artists work so why shouldn’t the artist get a share. There has of course been opposition to resale royalties by many people in the art market because it would mean that they would have higher costs and therefore would either have to pass the costs onto the vendors or take a cut in profits. Either way, the art market has generally been against the idea. I suppose one needs to look at the big picture and take into account that artists need money to live and pr

Let’s face it.  It’s all about money!  Yes, the entertainment industry seems fun and exciting, but people are in it to make money.  As an artist the most important contract in the music industry is the record contract.  The royalty is a portion of money from record sales paid to the artist for his/her music.

The U.S. Congress and oil and natural- gas producers are set to clash over proposals to resolve a mistake which exempts some companies from more than $10 billion in government royalties on Gulf of Mexico drilling leases. Leases issued in 1998 and 1998 by the U.S. Minerals Management Service omitted price thresholds that would require royalty payments when oil and gas prices rise

The U.S. Congress and oil and natural- gas producers are set to clash over proposals to resolve a mistake which exempts some companies from more than $10 billion in government royalties on Gulf of Mexico drilling leases. Leases issued in 1998 and 1998 by the U.S. Minerals Management Service omitted price thresholds that would require royalty payments when oil and gas prices rise

Lots of chatter around the web in the past couple of weeks regarding the new internet radio royalty rate hike. The Wall Street Journal profiled our very own WOXY with an article today, I’ll link to the article here and provide some interesting quotes as well. “The annual cost of running WOXY could more than double to around $2 million, far exceeding the station’s $500,000 to $1 million in annual revenue. The board’s decision could still be appealed or rescinded by Congress, but WOXY manager Bryan Jay Miller says, “I don’t see the situation getting any better.” Interesting to see it in black and white, the numbers are not to be taken lightly…. “Mr. Nguyen doesn’t yet have a solution for WOXY, which currently has about 100,000 unique listeners monthly. He says he may restrict the ability to create songlists to users who are actually buying and selling CDs on Lala. He is also considering altering his CD-selling model so that li

Stocks: (XOM)(CVX)(COP) The US Government surrendered without lifting a finger. Its case that Chevron underpaid for use of federal land to pump gas in the Gulf of Mexico was dropped. Oil and gas companies are mandated to pay part of their sales for product brought out of land owned by the government. But, the calculations are fuzzy. Big oil stands to add to its profits if the feds don't push for a higher rate of royalty. What's it worth? Perhaps several hundred million dollars. But, it is a small gift. With falling oil prices, it will not make up from the likely drop in profits at Big Oil. Inventories are still rising. The fears that Saudi production could be hurt by terrorists is receding. And, OPEC's plan to cut production seems to have no teeth. Ah, for a little, tiny war. Not one in which anyone gets hurt, mind you. Or, a little coup d'etat. Just something to grab the headlines for a day or two. Of course, higher oil prices are not the only reason that Big Oil has had larger pr

Stocks: (XOM)(CVX)(COP)The US Government surrendered without lifting a finger. Its case that Chevron underpaid for use of federal land to pump gas in the Gulf of Mexico was dropped. Oil and gas companies are mandated to pay part of their sales for product brought out of land owned by the government. But, the calculations are fuzzy.Big oil stands to add to its profits if the feds don't push for a higher rate of royalty. What's it worth? Perhaps several hundred million dollars.But, it is a small gift. With falling oil prices, it will not make up from the likely drop in profits at Big Oil. Inventories are still rising. The fears that Saudi production could be hurt by terrorists is receding. And, OPEC's plan to cut production seems to have no teeth.Ah, for a little, tiny war. Not one in which anyone gets hurt, mind you. Or, a little coup d'etat. Just something to grab the headlines for a day or two.Of course, higher oil prices are not the only reason that Big Oil has had larger profit

There are many flavors of radio out there ranging from broadcast to digital to purely Internet-based. Without too much work, you can find many of the same songs on each. What makes things interesting is the uneven way that royalty fees are dealt with across these various delivery mechanisms. Jim ...

Dallas, Texas (CaymanMama.com) -- In addition to heavy White House discussions about the highly-publicized billion dollar bailout aimed at rectifying the dire financial situation, Congress has also passed the Webcaster Settlement Act of 2008 which will provide the music industry and webcasters additional time to figure out a compromise ...