Yes Folks yet another of the RIAA's scams is revealed and this one is with the help of the US government
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/4/24/141326/870Look at the information on SoundExchange.com (RIAA created SoundExchange) and see how it works. The RIAA has secured legal authority to administer a compulsory license that covers all recorded music.
SoundExchange (the RIAA) considers any digital performance of a song as falling under their compulsory license. If any artist records a song, SoundExchange has the right to collect royalties for its performance on Internet radio. Artists can offer to download their music for free, but they cannot offer their songs to Internet radio for free. (http://soundexchange.com/faq#a7)
So how it works is that SoundExchange collects money through compulsory royalties from Webcasters and holds onto the money. If a label or artist wants their share of the money, they must become a member of SoundExchange and pay a fee to collect their royalties (http://soundexchange.com/faq#b6). But, and this is a big "but," you only get royalties if you own the sound recording copyright. If you are signed to a major label, chances are you don’t. Even if you do own the copyright to your own recording of your own song, SoundExchange will collect Internet radio royalties for your song even if you don’t want them to do so.
Go to the SoundExchange site: http://plays.soundexchange.com/... and take a look at the hundreds of indie labels for whom SoundExchange claims they have collected royalties. Enter some of those label names on http://www.riaaradar.com/... and notice how few are actually members of the RIAA. Contact the label and ask if they are a member of RIAA and they almost certainly aren’t and may not even be aware that SoundExchange is collecting royalty fees on their music.
And what exactly is SoundExchange doing with the money they have collected for those hundreds of labels that must have thousands of songs???
Collecting Money for something you dont own the rights to or control is called fraud in most countries, dont allow this scam to continue folks get onto your representative and ask where the missing money is going and why the RIAA are being granted a licence over other peoples intellectual property.
