[Ecommerce] EU : Copyright term extension for performers proposed

[Michelle Childs]

<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&format=
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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