NARAS vs. RIAA

POINT/COUNTERPOINT: “This is a life-threatening change for them, the legal equivalent of Internet technology,” said Kenneth Abdo, a lawyer who leads a termination rights working group for NARAS. “We believe the termination right doesn’t apply to most sound recordings,” argues RIAA General Counsel Steven Marks. As the record companies see it, the master recordings belong to them in perpetuity, rather than to the artists who wrote and recorded the songs, because, the labels argue, the records are “works for hire,” compilations created not by independent performers but by musicians who are, in essence, their employees. Stay tuned—this one’s got legs. (8/15a)