paper due at 3, any help (napster/iTunes related)

[phishndave]

Can anyone give me a brief low down on the deals that Napster and Itunes have the RIAA?

How much money does the RIAA get from each .99 song?

How does the napster subscription work with the RIAA?

Basically i just need to know how each works in terms of music business

 

[CanadaRAM]

Get with the programme here, Dave.

The RIAA gets nothing - zero - nada directly from sales of CDs or iTunes. The revenues go to the publishers (primarily the large record companies, although there are small companies and collectives that publish on iTMS as well), who distribute contractually determined shares to copyright holders, artists, etc (I am WAY oversimplifying the downstream arrangements but..)

The RIAA is an industry association - a lobby group - just like the Teamsters and the AMA and the Cattle Producers Association of North Dakota - and it is funded through industry members' (record companies and publishers) dues.

Estimates of payouts from iTMS have ranged from $0.40 to $0.70 to the publishers, with Apple keeping about $0.03 to $0.04 in net profit after expenses for each song. But Apple signs deals with each publisher separately for each country so this will vary.