Where's my money, Lala?

(Note: What a coincidence! Alex and I both did the same story.)

Apple is shutting down Lala.com, the popular streaming music website, which famously appears at the top of Google search results for most popular music titles. Google users could, until recently, stream just about any song for free via Lala.com's integrated search results. Now, with Lala's closure imminent, many wonder whether Google will find a new music partner or team up with Apple, which is expected to integrate Lala's technology into its iTunes music service. Either way, the rivalry between Apple and Google is heating up.

The use of Lala.com's streaming audio technology brings up a contentious DMCA debate from several years ago over music royalties and online broadcasting. Royalties, which are fees that media outlets pay to artists and copyright holders for use of a particular song, make up a significant portion of artists' and record labels' revnues. When an FM radio station plays a song, the station must pay "publishing royalties" to the song's copyright holders. Under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, however, Internet radio stations have to pay publishing royalties and performance royalties. Critics suggested the record labels had persuaded Congress to impose extra royalties in order to discourage smaller, independent streaming music sites from playing their music for little to no cost.

However, online performance royalties, which are now based on broadcasters' revenues, often never actually make it to the artists themselves--I'm still waiting for my checks!