"A federal court on Wednesday established a formula for determining the Internet royalties owed to thousands of music composers, writers and publishers by three major online services — Yahoo Inc., AOL and RealNetworks Inc.

The American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers hailed the decision, estimating the guidelines could yield as much as $100 million in payments covering a seven-year period ending in 2009.

The trade group, known as ASCAP, had contended that its 320,000 members weren't being properly compensated for musical works that helped drive traffic and increase revenue for Yahoo, Time Warner Inc.'s AOL and RealNetworks.

Wednesday's ruling, issued by a federal judge in New York, doesn't affect the royalties owed to record companies."

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5gcvi551LWwAZf1spACWYtfzJNCfQD90CIS086