February 2012
IN THIS BRIEFING -
- COMMENT - Digital Copyright Exchange
- COMMENT - Licensing – Get Real!
- COMMENT - Creators Find Their Voice
Welcome to the February issue of our monthly public affairs bulletin, BASCA Briefing. A digest of current activities and BASCA policy, in each issue the Briefing provides insight into issues we are concerned by, and looks at news developments from the music writers’ point of view. This month we highlight licensing and the proposed Digital Copyright Exchange and comment on the Creators Conference in Brussels
COMMENT – Digital Copyright Exchange
The end of last week saw the deadline for responses to Richard Hooper’s Call for Evidence on his Feasibility Study for a Digital Copyright Exchange (DCE). The idea for a DCE comes from Professor Ian Hargreaves’s review of Copyright which reported last year and posited that copyright licensing is not fit for purpose for the digital age. BASCA submitted responses to the Call for Evidence both as part of UK Music and on its own. In both responses the point was made that, insofar as music is concerned, it is not true to say that copyright licensing is not fit for purpose, licences are being granted and new music services are being launched.
Delivering this message risks the accusation that the music industry is being defensive: BASCA does not believe that this is the case. This is not to say that things could not be improved. As we discuss in greater depth below, as far as the rights of songwriters and composers are concerned, PRS for Music has a solid track record of negotiating and granting licences to new services (including the “next big thing” cloud services). However there can be difficulties in identifying from whom to get a licence and in accurately invoicing online music services for their use of our repertoire. The problem is the quality of data on rights ownership and the fact that, around the world there are many different (and all too often conflicting) versions of the “truth” of such ownership.
However these are problems of which the industry is aware and which are being addressed. The Working Group of the Global Repertoire Database project is nearing the end of its scoping study and will shortly report on how it proposes to build a single authoritative database of rights ownership which will serve the world. We trust that Mr Hooper will recognise its worth.
COMMENT – Licensing – Get Real!
US-based Grooveshark is a prime example of an online music service provider which is hiding behind legalities to avoid paying for a licence. The owners claim there is a distinction between legal and licensed and that they comply with the law and operate within the boundaries of the US Digital Millennium Copyright Act. Lawyers representing the major record labels clearly disagree as by January of this year, all four majors had filed lawsuits against Grooveshark for non payment of royalties. Grooveshark have declined to take out licences from collecting societies for the authors’ rights citing in the case of German collecting society, GEMA, that licensing costs were “unreasonably high”. BASCA asks, how many times does it have to be said to online MSPs that our music has a value, that licensing is available, and that if you use our music without a licence, it’s called theft.
If those behind Grooveshark are not living in the real world, Beyond Oblivion’s founders certainly are. The New York-based digital music start-up which offered cloud-based storage with music-sharing across multiple devices closed down at the turn of the year. Despite selling its “brand and lifestyle” product mighty hard, the owners had to face the fact that they were not getting enough buy-in from the necessary suppliers to make the business case viable. At least Beyond Oblivion had the integrity to acknowledge that you can’t build a house without paying for the bricks. BASCA reasserts the view that most internet start-ups fail, not because they can’t get a licence but because either their business models do not work or, sadly, because they don’t want to pay for the content
COMMENT – Creators Find Their Voice
Earlier this month the European Composer and Songwriter Alliance (ECSA) held its first Creators’ Conference in Brussels. The conference gave composers and songwriters the opportunity to present their views and concerns to European politicians and civil servants from the EU Commission through a number of keynote speeches and panel discussions.
Appearing on the panels were creators from Europe, Africa and the United States together with MEPs and members of the Commission. BASCA was well represented with Chairman Sarah Rodgers and board members Chris Smith and Simon Darlow speaking and opening up new lines of communication with the policy makers.
Throughout the wide ranging and overwhelmingly constructive discussions two themes recurred: the first was the importance to composers and songwriters of their collecting societies and the governing voice they had within them. This was a response to the perceived hostility to such societies which has emanated from certain parts of the European Commission and from some MEPs.
The second theme was the effect that piracy is having on the development of new business models in the music industry. There is much talk about taking action to address this problem but, as is the case with the now apparently moribund Digital Economy Act in the UK, very little seems actually to happen.
