If you were wondering what the Recording Industry Association of America is doing with the money they collect from strong-arm piracy law suits, this story from Reuters seems to say they're spending it on politicians.

Earlier this month I wrote about XM Satellite Radio's newest batch of receivers, and what concessions they might have to make to get them to market. In March, Sirius announced a deal with the major music studios under which it would pay royalties on any songs downloaded on its S50 satellite receiver/mp3 player. The Reuters article details bipartisan legislation dubbed the Perform Act, which seeks to distinguish downloadable digital music broadcasts as distribution services, and attach fees to such downloads. Sirius seems to be ahead of the curve on this legislation, while XM is preparing to fight it.

The problem with this legislation is that satellite-radio subscribers already pay a monthly fee for the service, a fee in line with the monthly charges for unlimited downloads from Napster.com. It seems to me that the RIAA is using smoke and mirrors to wring as much money as possible out of the satellite companies and their subscribers. When you add politicians to the legion of lawyers filing suits against anyone and everyone it becomes increasingly hard for the RIAA to play the victim card. — Brian Ward

Go to story from Reuters
Go to XM story from the Tech Confidential Blog
Go to Sirius story from the Tech Confidential Blog