ROYALTIES

It is unbelievable that The Times could run a cover story on the subject of royalties (“The Bucks Start Here,” by Diane Haithman, Nov. 5) and not mention the assault on federal copyright law currently being waged by Republicans in Congress via HR 789, the so-called “Fairness in Musical Licensing Act of 1995” and its companion bill in the Senate, S 1137. The intent of these bills is to declare music “incidental” to thousands of the businesses who currently license music, thus exempting them from payment.

The article states that “residual payments are determined by the unions.” Hardly. Residual payments are won as a result of hard-fought negotiations between labor and management. Royalties are payments made to the creators of intellectual property by those who license copyrighted material.

Comparing a hamburger to entertainment, as your article does, is nonsense, and does a great disservice to the creative community. Hamburger, unlike songs, for example, cannot be exploited by third parties for profit decades later.

BRUCE BABCOCK

Burbank

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I found Haithman’s article interesting and informative. However, she miscategorized Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil as hit songwriters of the ‘60s and ‘70s. They have written countless hits in the ‘80s and ‘90s, including “Somewhere Out There,” a double 1987 Grammy winner.

DAVID REIS

Los Angeles