[vorbis] mp3pro and the mp3 streaming license

[Aleksandar Dovnikovic]

"Jack Moffitt" <jack at icecast.org> wrote:

> > But there are no royalties if you are streaming for free.
> It doesn't say that.  It says if you are distributing music for free.
> It doesn't say anything about streaming.  I would hope there would be no
> fees, but I bet they will just be passed upstream. ie, live365 will have
> to pay based on a percent of their total revenue, even though the users
> are streaming for free, etc.

You're right, I forgot that you can still make money even if you
are giving files/streams for free. And since you are making
money using MP3 technology,  you will have to pay the royalties.
When they say "distributing music for free", they probably mean
that you are not making any money. I believe that only then there
are no royalties.

> It's not 2000 for medium or large businesses.  It's 2%.  I think it's
> safe to say that most medium->large businesses where streaming is a
> major part, that 2% could potentially be a lot of money.  Especially
> considering that you already ahve to pay ascap a percent or two, bmi a
> percent or two, the RIAA an undetermined percentage, etc.  An extra 2%
> is not going to fly, regardless of the size of business.

If 2% is >= $2000, that means a company is making at least
$100.000 with streaming. That's a lot of money, considering it's
only streaming, so I think that only few companies will pay the
actual 2%. Nevertheless, that's a lot of money, and as you said,
the tech guys will be making much more money then artists - and
that's the whole point, to release the artists from corporate chains.


---
Aleksandar @ Vorbis Xtreme | http://solair.eunet.yu/~aldov
Ogg Vorbis is the free, open source alternative to MP3

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