Supreme Court Declines Music Download Case

October 04, 2011 09:01pm

The United States Supreme Court is declining to decide whether downloading music is a public performance that would require artists to get paid additional royalties.

The American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers asked the Supreme Court to review a lower court decision that claimed downloading songs does not count as public performances, and thus, does not warrant the delivery of additional royalties.

The group, with its 400,000+ members, maintained in its case to the Court that the Copyright Act demanded the extra royalties, which could yield tens of millions of dollars in extra revenue to performing artists. The appeals court claimed that downloading music is more aptly characterized as “reproducing” a singular file and is not subject to performance rights.

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