ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the rights of master owners, recording artists, music publishers, and composers in this ever-evolving landscape. It explains the US Copyright Act, including business developments, are affecting the ongoing efforts to provide an economic return for music and recordings in the legitimate digital media world as distinct from the all-pervasive "shadow" digital media world of peer-to-peer file sharing. The chapter summarizes the Digital Performance Right in Sound Recordings Act and the Digital Millennium Copyright Act relevant provisions and the requirements that must be satisfied for cable, satellite companies, and webcasters to qualify for a compulsory license. The Copyright Royalty Board (CRB) was established and empowered by the Copyright Royalty and Distribution Reform Act of 2004 to determine rates and terms for copyright statutory licenses and the distribution of the statutory license royalties set by the CRB. The Copyright Office also has adopted the industry-negotiated mechanical royalty rates for streams and conditional downloads or incidental digital phonorecord deliveries.
