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Record companies have apparently found a new tactic to cash in on royalties. As we are well aware, at first these businesses sued individual users who illegally downloaded music. But this approach to collecting money in order to recover from major financial loss has destroyed their public image.

Rather than lowering the cost of albums in order to compete with free music circulating through the internet, record companies have turned to collection agencies who are now suing cellphone companies over royalties from ring tones. They contested that ring tones counted as public performances and therefore cell phone companies should be obligated to pay performance fees. The courts quickly shot this down.

After this unsuccessful attempt to collect money, Broadcast Music Inc is now suing T-Mobile over ring back tones, contesting that the cell phone company is selling them without agreeing to licensing agreements. Instead of ring tones, which play out loud when someone calls a cellphone, ring back tones play expressly to the person calling. That is to say, instead of hearing a cellphone dialing tone, the caller will hear a song chosen by the cell owner.

Music lovers are quick to point out the contradictory nature of this lawsuit. If ringtones that can be heard by anyone around a cellphone that is being called, do not equate to a public performance, it seems absurd to sue the mobile carriers over a ringback tone that can be heard only by the caller. Record companies seem to be grasping at straws as they suffer from huge financial losses.

It does not seem that lowering the cost of CDs and DVDs is an idea that has occurred to the major companies. There are still a number of music fans out there that prefer to collect and own the media, however with prices constantly spiking, downloading music for free seems very tempting. CDs generally go on sale for about seventeen dollars.

Specific bands have been skirting the issue of music downloading through unique tactics. Radiohead, an alternative rock band, established a website where fans can download the music for free, or for a donation. Nine Inch Nails' Trent Reznor has followed suit. With record companies' unsuccessful lawsuits and declining public image, it seems as though thinking outside of the box and fair pricing may be more effective than bullying money out of mobile carriers and individual users.