Tuning Music Royalties to the Times

[Commentary] For some time, performers a notch below Beyoncé and Taylor Swift have complained about the change in music delivery from CDs to downloads to streaming, today’s dominant system, as the progression has chipped away at their already-modest royalties. These gripes are legitimate, but even worse off is the nonperforming songwriter, who can’t go on the road and sell signed CDs and merchandise, and who takes home significantly lower royalties. It has been 40 years since the last major overhaul to US copyright law. Today’s technologies of music distribution bear no resemblance to those of the 1970s, and songwriters have borne the brunt of the ever-widening disconnect between law and reality.

Half a century ago, talented young people aspired to write another “White Christmas” or “Summertime.” Today, after reading about the paltry rewards of Aloe Blacc or Desmond Child, a creative soul would more likely turn his or her attention to devising a new music-sharing app. But we’ve got plenty of apps. What we need is a new torrent of great songs.

[Ben Yagoda is a professor of journalism at the University of Delaware. Gary Rosen is an attorney and author of "Unfair to Genius"]