In yet another bizarre demand, the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP) is demanding that mobile operators pay licensing fees because their customers use ringtones. In a nutshell, according to ASCAP, when your mobile phone rings with a copyrighted ringtone, it counts as a public performance.
Even more bizarre is Verizon’s agreement to pay $5 million to ASCAP as an interim license fee for ringtone use by its users. ASCAP is the same group that considers girl scouts singing around campfires as a public performance, so their latest assertion is only mildly ridiculous in comparison to that, but it did provoke the ire of the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF).
The EFF is urging a federal court to reject the “outlandish” claim made by ASCAP. Mobile carriers pay royalties for ringtones that they sell to their customers, but even in that case, ASCAP told a federal court that each time a phone rings and plays these recordings, the phone user is violating copyright law.
ASCAP said it has no intention or pursuing individual users for this “crime”, but instead it will go after the mobile phone service providers that enable it. However, the EFF has warned that if ASCAP is allowed to prevail in this case, then other copyright owners would be free to go after individual users. Even just charging the mobile operator for the ringtone user by its customers will surely increase the cost for consumers, sets a very bad precedent and runs the risk of stifling innovation in the field.
Result for: mobile carriers
According to a new survey by music consultancy Music Ally, many users would completely disregard warning letters from ISPs threatening to shut off their Internet for piracy offenses.
The survey was given to US, UK and French citizens, and published by the research firm The Leading Question.
The study also shows that most consumers would prefer to download music legally from their ISPs rather then from their mobile carriers or from their cable providers.
46 percent of those studied chose their ISP as the “ideal music provider” compared to 10 percent who chose their cable or satellite TV company, and 5 percent who chose their mobile operator. An even smaller number, 3 percent, chose handset manufacturers such as Nokia or Apple as their preferred provider.
“ISPs need to find new added value offerings as their core service of offering access to the Internet becomes increasingly commoditised,” noted Tim Walker, CEO of The Leading Question, on Music Ally’s Website.
“Music looks like a good bet both for keeping existing customers and getting new ones, particularly if you can bundle in a music service so that it ‘feels’ free or very cheap.”
To the other matter at hand, 41 percent of those surveyed “admitted to using P2P services said they would stop downloading unlicensed music if they were sent a warning letter from their ISP.” 63 percent said they would stop if they were threatened with having their Internet service shut off.
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Result for: mobile carriers
According to a report in the Electronic Times, the LG Voyager touchscreen phone has been so popular with its current exclusive US carrier, Verizon, that the company is looking to introduce it with other carriers.
Citing an unnamed LG official, the report says the phone’s success has been so “surprisingly strong” that AT&T and Sprint versions will be available sometime this year. Despite being limited to only one carrier, the handset has sold over 1.1 million units to date.
There was no word on when this year the new versions will be available or even what changes will be made to the new editions except for the obvious CDMA to GSM network switch for AT&T. For Sprint, the carrier will either need to “launch a broadcast digital TV service or else strip out the MediaFLO TV tuner that would be supported both by AT&T and Verizon’s existing network.”
