The RIAA is responsible for defending our rights to ringtones? Talk about a surprising plot twist! With all the talk of Apple iPhones and ringtone technology, the truth is revealed: creating your own ringtones and using them on your phone is explicitly legal thanks to RIAA. That’s right, the originators and biggest defenders of DIY ringtone access is the same agency famous for SLAPping toddlers and grannies with music piracy lawsuits. It turns out, in a move very similar to the tactics used by Clear Channel and Payola, that the RIAA wanted to “distribute ringtones of its artists’ music without having to pay the artist big money to do so…” Therefore, the RIAA convinced the Copyright Office that ringtones of copyrighted music is not a derivative work, and thus does not infringe on the songwriter’s and performers’ copyrights. The results of winning their persuasive argument, is that anyone can create a ringtone without a license for the music. As long as you legally own the rights to the music (which includes rights granted to the consumer upon purchase of an album/CD/mp3 etc.) you can legally make a ringtone out of it. However, this does not give you permission to sell, distribute or otherwise commercialize your creation. So, does this mean junglists can get sample clearance if they make a ringtone of the sample they want first? ([More →])

As promised, the Future of Music Coalition has ended a week of exposing Clear Channel’s devious business practices with a BANG! I don’t want to spoil the plot, so head over to the FMC blog to see what they’ve served up. If you have no idea what I am talking about, check out the links to previous posts below.

LINKS

FMC surprise for Clear Channel
Clear Channel Steals From Independent Musicians
Clear Channel Seeks Royalty-Free Souls

Yesterday I reported about Clear Channel’s latest crime involving independent musicians and the payola agreement. In a nutshell, the FCC decided that it was unlawful for Clear Channel to use a pay-per-play structure that ensured the Big Record Companies would get plenty of airtime while independent and local music would be economically excluded. After a bit of research, I can see why the people at Future Of Music and various independent musicians/independent record labels are furious with the outcome of this agreement. ([More →])