Bounties, Sí; Hunting, No

Jesse Walker | May 23, 2007

When the Copyright Office decided to jack up the fees paid by Internet radio stations, one of the groups pushing for the hike was an organization called SoundExchange. The Houston Press explains its interest in the issue:

This is the U.S. Copyright Office-approved quasi-official body that collects money for performances of recordings on digital cable and satellite TV, Webcasts, and satellite radio and then disburses a portion to artists. Originally a wing of the widely reviled Recording Industry Association of America, it became independent in 2003, although there are still members of the RIAA on the SoundExchange board.

Over the past seven years, SoundExchange has found and paid thousands of artists, but they have admitted they can't find about 25 percent of the people they have been looking for. Today, that number stands at more than 8,300 artists.

What happens to that money if SoundExchange can't find them? SoundExchange keeps it.

How hard is it trying to find them? After perusing the list of lost musicians, the Press's John Nova Lomax reports that "in less than five minutes of Googling, I found the official Web sites and/or MySpace pages of Fito Olivares, Goudie, Mark May, the Hollisters and Los Skarnales. What's more, highly visible people like Cam'ron (fresh off a highly-publicized appearance on 60 Minutes), Fat Joe and Danzig are on the 'lost' list too." Some of these artists have simply failed to send in the necessary paperwork, but it's hard to believe that's true of all of them.

Lomax's conclusion: "When an agency gets to keep the money it is supposed to be doling out to people it is responsible for finding, it is easy to detect at least a possible conflict of interest." And when it's lobbying to increase the amount being paid...

Comments

|5.23.07 @ 1:35PM|#

hmmmm, this presents an interesting oportunity...

|5.23.07 @ 1:37PM|#

I wonder if our reporter is a descendent of John and Alan Lomax, who sleuthed out all of those great blues artists in the '30s and '40s.

|5.23.07 @ 1:51PM|#

Congress gave the record industry all the tools it needed to be sleazy as hell. It's no surprise that music industry jagoffs are running with it.

ron|5.23.07 @ 2:07PM|#

ah the search for the elusive danzig

grylliade|5.23.07 @ 2:26PM|#

ah the search for the elusive danzig

Maybe they should look under "Gdansk"?

VM|5.23.07 @ 2:32PM|#

He is the Lorax. He speaks for the Danzigs.

Urkobold®|5.23.07 @ 2:46PM|#

Glenn Danzig is a good friend of Urkobold.

New World Dan|5.23.07 @ 3:00PM|#

What's even stranger is that though they can't find Danzig they can apparently still find the Misfits.

Other notable bands that I found on the missing list: Overkill, Aldo Nova, Iced Earth, My Dying Bride and that's just bands in my CD collection or that I've seen live.

Russ 2000|5.23.07 @ 3:04PM|#

I find it hard to beleive they couldn't find Whiskeytown.

They also can't find RuPaul. Maybe Ron Paul can stake a claim.

Kim Scarborough|5.23.07 @ 3:15PM|#

It's worse than that. Even if a label or an independent musician willingly waives its/his/her right to royalties on internet radio, SoundExchange still collects royalties for those songs. You cannot opt out. See here.

New World Dan|5.23.07 @ 3:28PM|#

Kim Scarborough,

That's not correct. A copyright owner can still negotiate a different royalty rate with any webcaster and they can waive royalties altogether. If they take no action, they are still subject to the compulsary license and SoundExchange can still collect royalties.

John Payne|5.23.07 @ 4:04PM|#

Danzig should totally track down the people who run SoundExchange and go all "Twist of Cain" on them, basically by wailing on them and yelling:

"Blood
Like a crimson highway
Spreading out
From his forehead to the ground"

Probably not gonna happen, but a man can dream.

highnumber|5.23.07 @ 4:09PM|#

John Payne,

The boys at Urkobold think like you, but watch the 2nd video. You'll see things might not work out so well for Glenn.

|5.23.07 @ 4:15PM|#

Hrrm,
My Life With the Thrill Kill Kult, Warlock, Urge Overkill? I don't think they are looking that damn hard.

|5.23.07 @ 4:19PM|#

But in good news, they apparently found Farces Wanna Mo

|5.23.07 @ 4:32PM|#

Kwix,

Damn not having speakers at work, cause I'd love to hear what "Feed Me Buttered Waffles" sounds like...

John Payne|5.23.07 @ 5:01PM|#

Yeah, Danzig does need to remember that no matter how jacked you are, there is always someone bigger and badder.

|5.23.07 @ 5:38PM|#

Unbelievable, ridiculous stuff. I sent an e-mail to the "missing" band Translator through its Myspace page.

|5.23.07 @ 5:40PM|#

They can't find the freaking Afghan Whigs? That's just fucking lazy.

|5.23.07 @ 5:45PM|#

Christ, I'm still on the A's and the outrage continues. Aldo Nova?

Can't you see
What this crazy life is doing to me
Life is just a fantasy
Can you live this fantasy life

|5.23.07 @ 5:50PM|#

They're even ripping off charities, as I enter the B's and find Band Aid.

Where oh where is Bob Geldof hiding?

|5.23.07 @ 6:18PM|#

Hmph.

Boy Hits Car
Deltron 3030

wtf?

|5.23.07 @ 6:40PM|#

Wow,

They really aren't trying.

Seems that ASCAP or BMI could give them a heads up on most of the missing.

|5.23.07 @ 6:49PM|#

If Glenn Danzig doesn't get his royalties, he's gonna be eating his Corn Flakes out of their mother f*cking skulls.

|5.23.07 @ 6:54PM|#

Not really to defend of this particular quasi government agency...but as a land owner it is pretty much my responsibility to protect and define my property...why should intellectual property be any different?

I think i would have to use the George Castanza term "delicate genius".
What are these fucking musicians so fucking brilliant that in order for them to go out and protect their own work would somehow disrupt their artist sensibilities?

libertarian solution: SoundExchange should be privatized and competitors should be allowed to compete for artists and artists who do not defend their copyright looses those rights to public domain.

|5.23.07 @ 11:00PM|#

I think you can find Danzig living in the house that used to belong to Meatwad, Shake and Frylock...somewhere in Jersey I believe.

|5.24.07 @ 4:15AM|#

bob,

Somehow I have a feeling that the Ghost of Christmas Past (AKA Tom Turkey) has exorcised Glenn from that house.

Considering that last time I looked, the Aqua Teens were still living there.

|5.24.07 @ 9:30AM|#

Taktix® | May 23, 2007, 4:32pm | #

Kwix,

Damn not having speakers at work, cause I'd love to hear what "Feed Me Buttered Waffles" sounds like...

No, you really don't want to hear what it sounds like...trust me...

It made me want to gouge my ears out...

On the upside, there are some occasional interesting musical elements that would make for good music, but it seems like they just inadvertently stumbled onto them. :)

|5.24.07 @ 11:57AM|#

Well, that pretty much wraps that up. So we agree that we need more copyright protection, yes yes?