With industry analysts expecting world-wide download sales to represent 30% of the music market by 2008, it is no wonder that the battles are beginning between record labels and artists over how much in royalties should be paid out when a song is bought and downloaded.

In the UK, the British Phonographic Institute is suing the MCPS-PRS Alliance, which is similar to ASCAP here in the US, over royalty rates. The MCPS-PRS wants 12% while the BPI only wants to pay an average 8.5%. No set rate, mind you, the labels want to be able to negotiate lower rates with artists as they see fit.

Universal Music even went so far as to file a complaint with the European Union saying the collection societies were causing "higher music prices" and impeding the "development of online and cell-phone services."

Pink Floyd's former manager Pete Jenner said, "The media is disintegrating into multimedia. Instead of trying to figure this out, labels focus on shareholder value. They need a different mindset, different skills."

Once again, it seems, the record labels are showing how greedy they are. I think artists should really begin to give more thought to self-publishing on the internet. When micropayment technology finally comes to fruition using companies like PayPal, I hope to sell single, high-fidelity songs here at TParker.net.

Click here to read the article at Wired.com.

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