"A lower court rightly ruled that ASCAP does not deserve an additional royalty payment from online music services that provide downloads," said DiMA's interim executive director Lee Knife.

"DiMA's members are committed to paying appropriate royalties, and they pay songwriters and music publishers fairly and fully for digital downloads when reproduction and distribution rights are implicated."

ASCAP had argued that the transmission of a download to a purchaser should be considered a performance as well as a distribution, and should ...