[Ecommerce] Re: [A2k] EU : Copyright term extension for performers proposed

Wed Mar 12 08:06:01 2008

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Dear Riaz:

Are you talking about the share at the present time?

If so, the PDF attached will probably be found illuminating. It is somethin=
g
I composed a while back, but it is still accurate.

On 19/02/2008 17:05, "Riaz K Tayob" <riazt@iafrica.com> wrote:

> 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&form=
at=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" =AD 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 =AD 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 =AD whether featured artists or session musicians," the
>> Commissioner says. "For session musicians, the record companies will
>> set up a fund =AD 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=B2 Albert Einstein
>>
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>
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Regards,

Nick Ashton-Hart
Tel: +33 (450) 42 81 83
USA Tel: +1 (202) 657-5460
Fax: : +41 (22) 594-85-44
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