Music industry claims ringtones violate copyrights

by Michelle L on July 6, 2009

How many times have you been somewhere—a restaurant, an airport, a movie theater—and someone’s cell phone has begun blaring not just a regular ringing sound, but an actual song? It can be annoying when it’s a song you don’t like, or when, rather than playing the way it normally would, it’s just a snippet that plays over and over again on a loop. The music industry is finding musical ringtones annoying, too, but for a different reason—it feels they’re a copyright violation.

Specifically, the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP), a music industry licensing group, contends that every time a musical ringtone plays, it’s a public performance, and therefore, wireless carriers who make those ringtones available to their customers should pay for public performance licenses. ASCAP has brought its case to a federal judge in New York in an attempt to require the country’s two largest carriers—AT&T and Verizon—to comply.

The last time income from ringtones was forecasted in 2008, Broadcast Music, Inc. (BMI) put the potential income for the music industry at $510 million. ASCAP hasn’t stated how much they are seeking in damages from wireless carriers, but did say that if their bid is successful, they will ask for payments retroactive to when musical ringtones were first sold.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), a digital rights group based in San Francisco, warns this would technically turn all consumers who use musical ringtones into copyright violators, and could cost them money. It brings to mind the music industry going after people who downloaded music from the Internet, taking some of them to court and winning multi-million dollar judgments. Will they now come after consumers who have downloaded musical ringtones to their cell phones?

ASCAP says no. They are adamant that their goal is to collect revenue it’s due from the businesses that profit from the sale of ringtones, and deny they will pursue any action against individual consumers. An attorney for ASCAP called it a “business-to-business issue” rather than a consumer issue.

But even if the music industry itself doesn’t pursue payment from consumers who download and use musical ringtones, it’s naïve to think that if their case is successful, it won’t have an effect on consumers. If AT&T, Verizon, or any other carrier is forced to pay for public performance licenses, they will almost certainly pass that cost on to their customers. And if BMI’s $510 million figure for last year is correct, multiply that by the number of years musical ringtones have been available, and wireless carriers could be looking at a bill of over a billion dollars—each.

The simplest way to recoup that loss would be to raise the cost of musical ringtones. That could reduce sales, though, which would mean carriers would have to increase other fees to make up for their losses. One way or another, wireless customers will pay.

In addition, this case could set a nasty precedent. If a cell phone musical ringtone is considered a public performance, and is then subject to copyright law, what about those people who drive with their windows down while they’re listening to music? Or who listen to a portable stereo while on the beach or at the park? Where will it end? And how much will it cost?

Filed under : Consumer Issues