World Business

The EC chief facing pacts that ban cross-border competition is changing the tune on musicians’ copyright payments

by Honor Mahony

Watch original video:

The European Commission on Wednesday (16 July) told the organisations that collect music copyright fees for artists that they have to end agreements that stop them from competing from one side of to the other borders.

At the moment, music copyright groups have a body of contracts object that artists may collect payments only from an agency in their have a title to country.

But after consultation with industry and artists, following a complaint by broadcaster RTL and British online group Music Choice, the commission came down on the border of freer contest, saying this would allow authors to choose on the basis of quality of service, efficiency of collection and level of management fees deducted.

At the moment, companies such as RTL that want to offer a pan-European furniture cannot obtain a single licence but have to negotiate with individual general collecting societies.

The decision also says the societies should have being allowed to permission material for use upon the body the internet or by broadcasters exterior their hold countries.

Competition agent Neelie Kroes said the have commerce could “help cultural diversity by dint of. encouraging collecting societies to endeavor composers and lyricists a better deal in stipulations of collecting the money to which they are entitled”.

But artists gain reacted angrily to Brussels’ move, believing it will mean that less celebrated musicians and smaller collecting societies will subsist hurt by it. They also believe that EU-wide music rights may vanquish their royalties, with musicians making money from their music after they register the copyright with collective rights managers.

CISAC, every international organisation representing the creative community, condemned the decision, saying it would lead to “a calamitous decline in artistic creation, cultural difference and creators’ income.”

It also criticised the commission for claiming to act in artists’ interests while it “imposed” the conclusion close up to their “expressed wishes.”

The European musicians’ organisation also blasted Brussels conducive to saying the settlement will benefit them and that it was acting in their interests.

The European Composers and Songwriters Alliance (ECSA) said this was a “unilateral claim” by which they strongly disagreed.

Meanwhile, Dutch authors’ society Buma/Stemra welcomed the commission’s decision. But it said Brussels should now be turning its attention to what it called “a much bigger menace” to fair competition.

It accused major music publishers of not allowing small and medium-sized collecting societies to use popular Anglo-American music for online and mobile purposes, instead entrusting these “money-spinning rights” to German, French and British collecting societies.