Cal State Senator vs. RIAA

State Sen. Kevin Murray (D-Culver City) attacks RIAA on the “seven-year rule” in Billboard:

The RIAA last week issued a statement outlining five concessions it claimed had been made by labels in their ongoing talks with artists’ groups over the seven-year rule. According to Sen. Kevin Murray (D-Culver City), what the RIAA called “compromises” — including midterm contract renegotiations, damages for only limited numbers of undelivered albums, and repayment of advances to labels for undelivered albums — actually represent labels’ demands, not concessions.

“For the RIAA to present their demands as compromises or concessions was an insult to the recording artists, attorneys, and managers that have been working for months to resolve this issue,” says Murray in a statement. He also says the current impasse in negotiations on the seven-year rule has hardened artists’ resolve to repeal the current law.

In response to Murray’s statement, RIAA chairman/CEO Hilary Rosen says only that a compromise would be in the best interest of all parties. “I hope we can get there,” she says….