Slashdot has turned me onto an interesting Hollywood Reporter article. Basically the RIAA wants to lower songwriter royalties on downloads to nine cents per song, a five percent drop from thirteen to eight percent. Tech/digital media companies involved want the royalties obliterated. They argue that a digital download is a stream like any radio broadcast. I’m paraphrasing.

Ah , tech and the stink of desperation.  I’m sure there’s a startup somewhere preparing to make a lot of money. By allowing thousands of artists to manage their digital sales through their own sites for a tiny fee.  First it will be boutique online retail shops doing this for many artists.  Then larger companies that are less agile will crash the party and ruin the novelty. Then we’ll get to directly buying from the artists sites.  Five years?