Judge Brings Some Sanity to the Music Industry: Ringtones Aren't Performances

Jackie Cheng writes for Ars Technica that US District Judge Denise Cote ruled against ASCAP (American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers) in their lawsuit against cellphone carriers that demanded that the carriers pay ASCAP a royalty fee whenever the phone rings. Thank fucking God.

I'm all for writers (whether literature, music, ad copy, etc) getting paid for their work, but come on. The fact that this suit even made into reality, let alone the US court system, just goes to show how fucked the music industry really is.

I feel bad for the performers, artists and writers. But, their leadership is driving them into one hell of a deep well. At least this judge let her common sense and the law prevail, not some fear of an entire industry disappearing (which, by the way, the leadership of said industry seems to be doing a mighty fine job of committing suicide all on their own).