RIAA petitions for lower artist royalties

IGN reports that innovative marketing solutions like Apple's iTunes store and stores that sell digital ringtones are putting too much money into the pockets of the artists who actually create and perform music. The RIAA has petitioned the federal US Copyright Royalty Judgets to lower the rates paid to songwriters for the digital use of their creations. Apparently things have changed a great deal since 1981, the last time the US government set the royalty rates.

The petition brief apparently read in part, "Mechanical royalties currently are out of whack with historical and international rates...We hope the judges will restore the proper balance by reducing the rate and moving to a more flexible percentage rate structure so that record companies can continue to create the sound recordings that drive revenues for music publishers."