Washington - The Digital Media Association (DiMA), a trade group that represents webcasters and online retailers like Apple and Amazon, on Friday asked a federal court to rule that online retailers' use of 30-second music preview clips are "fair use," and not subject to royalty payments.

Performing rights organization ASCAP, which represents songwriters and music publishers, recently proposed that these samples be subject to public performance royalty payments.

Along with DiMA, the National Association of Recording Merchandisers (NARM) filed an amicus brief in a lawsuit where AT&T Wireless is arguing that 30-second samples promote ringtone sales, and should be seen as "product information" that helps consumers make purchase choices.

"The iTunes Store is America's largest music retailer, and Amazon.com, Best Buy and other DiMA members use 30-second clips to sell both CDs and digital downloads," said DiMA executive director Jonathan Potter.

"If ASCAP succeeds in pressing its demand for a new payment for these previews, Internet music retailers would be disadvantaged simply because they are selling online, and songwriters and music publishers would be getting a royalty for the preview on top of the appropriate and well-deserved royalty that is paid when the music itself is sold."

*Correction: This story initially incorrectly labeled the interested DiMA parties as webcasters. While DiMA does represent webcasters in royalty-related matters, the issue at hand pertains to the organization's online retail members.

Related Links:
http://www.digmedia.org

http://www.ascap.org