[A2k] EU : Copyright term extension for performers proposed

[Riaz K Tayob]

Is there any information on the share of the proceeds that go to the
creators/innovators of works compared with the market intermediaries
(like big music labels)?

riaz

Michelle Childs wrote:
>
>
> <snip>The Internal Market Commissioner intends to bring forward a
> proposal to extend the term of protection for sound recordings to 95
> years. This proposal should be ready for adoption by the Commission
> before the summer break of 2008.
>
>
> http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=3DIP/08/240&forma=
t=3DHTML&aged=3D0&language=3DEN&guiLanguage=3Den
>
>
> IP/08/240
>
> Brussels, 14 February 2008
> "Performing artists - no longer be the 'poor cousins' of the music
> business" =96 Charlie McCreevy
>
> Commissioner Charlie McCreevy today announced his intention to propose
> to the College that the term of copyright protection for European
> performers be increased from 50 to 95 years. Summarising the main
> thrust of the proposal, Commissioner McCreevy stated: "I strongly
> believe that copyright protection for Europe's performers represents a
> moral right to control the use of their work and earn a living from
> their performances. I have not seen a convincing reason why a composer
> of music should benefit from a term of copyright which extends to the
> composer's life and 70 years beyond, while the performer should only
> enjoy 50 years, often not even covering his lifetime It is the
> performer who gives life to the composition and while most of us have
> no idea who wrote our favourite song =96 we can usually name the
> performer."
>
> The Internal Market Commissioner intends to bring forward a proposal
> to extend the term of protection for sound recordings to 95 years.
> This proposal should be ready for adoption by the Commission before
> the summer break of 2008.
>
> If nothing is done, thousands of European performers who recorded in
> the late fifties and sixties will lose all of their airplay royalties
> over the next ten years. "I am not talking about featured artists like
> Cliff Richard or Charles Aznavour. I am talking about the thousands of
> anonymous session musicians who contributed to sound recordings in the
> late fifties and sixties. They will no longer get airplay royalties
> from their recordings. But these royalties are often their sole
> pension", says Commissioner Charlie Mc Creevy in describing the
> rationale behind his proposal.
>
> "I am determined to ensure that this extension will benefit all
> artists =96 whether featured artists or session musicians," the
> Commissioner says. "For session musicians, the record companies will
> set up a fund =96 a substantial fund reserving at least 20% of the
> income during the extended term to them. For featured artists,
> original advances may no longer be set off against royalties in the
> extended term. That means the artist would get all the royalties
> during the extended term." he adds.
>
> The Commissioner also proposes a 'use it or lose it' provision. That
> means that, in case a record company is unwilling to re-release a
> performance during the extended term, the performer can move to
> another label.
>
> Filling the pension gap
>
> A Commission survey shows that many European performers or singers
> start their career in their early 20's. Session musicians, who are not
> a member of a band, often start performing when they are 17. That
> means that when the current 50 year protection ends, they will be in
> their 70's and given life expectancy in the EU - 75 years for men and
> 81 years for women - it is not unusual for performers to live well
> into their 80's and 90's.
>
> But once copyright protection for sound recordings has ended,
> performers no longer receive any income from their sound recordings.
> For session musicians and lesser known artists that means that income
> stops when performers are at the most vulnerable period of their lives
> (retirement). They will also not get any payment when their
> performances are sold on the Internet.
>
> No negative impact on consumer prices
>
> The Commissioner stressed that the proposal should not have a negative
> impact on consumer prices. "Empirical studies on the price effects of
> copyright protection show that the price of sound recordings that are
> out of copyright is not necessarily lower than that of sound
> recordings in copyright.
>
> No negative impact on Europe's external trade balance
>
> The Commission has also looked at the trade implications of a longer
> term of protection and provisionally concludes that most of the
> additional revenue collected in an extended term would stay in Europe
> and benefit European performers. This is good for promoting Europe's
> performers and the cultural vibrancy of European sound recordings.
>
> Michelle Childs
> Head of European Affairs
> Knowledge Ecology International
> michelle.childs@cptech.org
>
> "The world we have made, as a result of the level of thinking we have
> done thus far, creates problems we cannot solve at the same level of
> thinking at which we created them=94 Albert Einstein
>
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