"A closer look at the economics of the issue reveals a bit more about the curious position of the RIAA. Artists and record labels are compensated from terrestrial radio based on the number of times a song is played and this model does not take into account the total revenue of a radio station or parent company. Conversely, the compensation from the satellite companies is based entirely on revenue. 'When songs get played on satellite radio, recording artists get paid more money than when they get played on terrestrial radio,' Sean Butson, a media analyst with financial services company Legg Mason, told Wired. According to Butson, seven percent of the total revenue from the satellite companies is paid out to artists and copyright holders. As a result, there is a possible motivation for the RIAA to favor the growth of both XM and Sirius, even if it means that the recording (and illegal distribution) of copied digital tracks increases."
