[bogomipz]

>" Previous to the internet, media sales mostly went to the labels who held hte mechanical rights and songwriting copyright was earned directly to the artist."So if you bought a CD the label gets paid, if you play a song on the radio an artist gets paid.

This is not correct. Mechanical royalties have always belonged to the songwriter. A record label pays mechanicals to a songwriter's publishing company who then passes it on to the songwriter. When a record label sells a record that contains a song an artist owns the copyright to the record label must pay that songwriter a mechanical royalty. When that songs is played on the radio at least in the US the songwriter gets a performance royalty. The songwriter gets paid a royalty in both cases. The label as a mechanical license holder is obligated to pay out a mechanical royalty.

https://www.bmi.com/news/entry/Understanding_Mechanical_Roya...

[lukeh]

Perhaps the GP meant to identify the two rights as the right to reproduce the composition (mechanical) and the master right. The royalty on streaming services for the former is even smaller than the latter.