Australian dance clubs getting screwed on licensing fees

When I found out about this, my jaw dropped. I found this article out of an Autralian newspaper called "The Age" regarding dance club licensing fees for public play of songs. Supposedly, the Copyright Tribunal reached a decision to raise rates on dance parties and nightclubs on the songs they play. Quoting the article:

"It lifted rates for recordings played in nightclubs from seven cents per person a night to $1.05 per person. The dance party rate rises from 20 cents to $3.07 per person."

At those prices, clubs might not want to "pack the place" as it would cost them an arm and a leg. Just in case you're counting, that's a 1000%+ percent increase. According to the article, about half the money goes to the artists, the other half goes to the labels. You can read the details here:

http://www.theage.com.au/news/entertainment/latest-club-hit-doofdoof-kerching/2007/07/10/1183833519305.html?s_cid=rss_age

So fees are outrageous in Australia and climbing fast here in the states. That got me thinking, at some point, it becomes inequitable to play a popular song. Especially in the dance club scene, where many times, DJ's are mixing and mashing up tracks and beats for hours on end. I think there is a real possibility that we could see the day in the near future where music is being created improv-style and/or the DJ IS is the artist performing the live music via drum machines and electronics.

With the democratization of creation tools for music and the massive influx of new artists and ideas, there just isn't enough room or staying power behind popular music. Unfortunately, record labels may be pricing themselves out of the market.