July 26, 2006
Class action lawsuit over over ringtone royalties
Elmo Shropshire has joined other performers in a lawsuit against Sony Music over royalties for downloaded music, reports the Associated Press.
"Initially, the acts had complained that Sony was stiffing them on revenue from legal download services like iTunes and Napster.
In the revised suit, filed earlier this month, the bands say Sony also failed to pay appropriate royalties on songs sold as mobile phone ringtones.
... Ringtones — small sections of popular songs that play when a person's phone rings — have been netting the performers about 8.3 cents apiece, out of the $1 to $1.50 that Sony Music gets from each sale. The musicians say they should get 50 to 75 cents.
The three musical acts have asked a federal court in Manhattan to certify the case as a class action covering all Sony artists who signed deals between 1962 and 2002.
The lawsuit claims that ringtones will be a $20 billion industry by the end of 2006."
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