Serious question about Copyright

[PJMcK]

11. Performing Rights Organizations collect and distribute royalties

Ascap, BMI and Sesac are the major collection societies in the U.S. There are similar organizations in most other countries.

These organizations charge annual fees to distributors (radio, TV and streaming services) in the form of blanket licenses to transmit the songs in each group's catalog. Through the use of playlists and random monitoring of outlets, the P.R.O.s calculate the approximate number of "plays" that songs get and pay the songwriters and their publishers a pro-rated share.

It's a somewhat sloppy state of affairs but it has been in use since the early 1900s and is continually being revised to try to improve its accuracy.

You may recall that when Apple was developing the iPod, Steve Jobs had many negotiations with record labels and other music executives to sell them on his radically new music system. Jobs needed to have a one-size-fits-all licensing system in order to make Apple Music work. He was relentless and eventually the major music organizations went along with Jobs' plan. Many people in the music industry feel that Jobs' efforts reinvigorated the music business in the new digital world.

So, streaming services pay licensing fees that eventually trickle down to the copyright owners. It's part of the reason consumers have to pay services like Apple Music, Alexa, etc. Other "free" services, like YouTube, charge advertisers for their viewers eyeballs and those fees are used to pay the licensing fees.

This is all kind of general and not specific but it's how it works in the broad scope.