RIAA Petitions Judges to Lower Artist Royalties

A wise person once said, "stop digging if you find yourself in a hole". Apparently not satisfied with suing grandmas, single moms, 12 year olds and other horrible people society frowns upon, they have now taken that knife and stabbed it firmly in the back of the artists they represent. This whole situation is a like waiting for a zit to come to a big white head.

From the article:

In publicly defending its strong arm tactics and stated desire to scare
consumers into absolute compliance, the RIAA has long cited the
negative repercussions of piracy and lost revenue upon the recording
artists that pour their talent into making the music that people like
to hear. It's a sympathetic defense, yet in the past week the RIAA has
made it quite clear whose profits the group is truly out to defend, and
it's certainly not the artists who actually make the music.

On December 1 The Hollywood Reporter revealed that the
RIAA is currently petitioning the panel of federal government Copyright
Royalty Judges to lower the rates paid to publishers and songwriters
for use of lyrics and melodies in applications like cell phone ring
tones and other digital recordings. The last time the American
government set the rate was in 1981, but since that time, the RIAA
argues in its petition, a lot has changed.