[Editor Charlie sez: Remember when the government set the price of mechanical royalties at $0.02 in 1909 and “forgot” to raise it until 1978?  And then–in 1978–started giving songwriters  increases based on inflation (Consumer Price Index) with no compensation for the government’s past mistakes?  Gee, thanks government.  If they’d given inflation adjustments in 1909, minimum statutory would be at least $0.50.  And then they froze the $0.091 minimum statutory rate again in 2009 when inflation has been about 14% since then.  Gee, thanks again government.  And why do they call it “minimum” statutory rate as if anyone is getting paid more than statutory when the reality is songwriters almost always get paid less than statutory?  Big thank you to ASCAP and the songwriter delegation, you can tweet support to #standwithsongwriters!]

via @ascap #StandWithSongwriters to Meet with Congress on Rolling Back Government Regulation of Songwriters — Artist Rights Watch