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The legitimate business webcasters have never objected to paying ASCAP/BMI extortion fees. By the way, if you think that the artists actually get compensated properly for airplay of their work by ASCAP/BMI, you don't know how that racketeering, shake-down enterprise works. In any event, compensation for artists isn't the question with legitimate webcasting businesses.

The problem with the current situation is that the RIAA is trying to eliminate competition for the over-the-air outlets that they control through a mechanism of third-party payola. They don't like it that their control is being diluted by the fact that webcasters offer more choice to the listener. They're asking that webcasters pay not only the ASCAP/BMI fees, but an ADDITIONAL fee to RIAA which is designed to put webcasters out of business. The webcasters offered to pay a percentage of profit but this wasn't good enough for RIAA because all they want to do is eliminate competition for their controlled outlets.

All of this is based on the premise that webcasters are doing the same thing as mailing CD's with music on them to their listeners - which is ridiculous - rather than doing the same thing that over-the-air broadcasters are doing.

This is nothing but a monopoly operating on a pre-historic business model that refuses to change and prefers to squash its competition.

Troublemaker...

Bingo! bump. The RIAA is out trying to continue a business model (controlling new artists and music via a few very large semi-monopolies) that is being outmoded by the technological advance represented by the Internet.