2 MusicWeek 06.07.12 NEWS EDITORIAL


A taxing question of strategy


BOY, TEAM HARRIET HARMAN have been well briefed. Whatever her true intentions towards the creative industries,


you have to give her credit for knowing how to push the record business’s buttons. At the BPI’s AGM on Tuesday, she hit upon pretty much every topic those working in the market of mechanical music would have craved – whilst savouring each opportunity to spank the name of Jeremy Hunt even further into the reputational mire. In her speech, she promised she’s different than those other


politicians – that she wants to do more than just pay lip service to how much she loves music. She condemned Hunt’s retraction of the long-promised


Communications Green Paper, blaming a “lack of focus within the DCMS” and Hunt’s supposed preoccupation with “saving his own neck”. (Which may prove to be slightly unfair if Hunt’s revised plan of hosting five communications policy seminars between July and September ultimately justifies the means.) Then she got razor-edged – if flimsily so. Her messages


suggested that music is a “silo” within the DCMS and that the rest


“The video games industry used maths and science to grab the Government’s attention regarding a tax break. Perhaps classical music’s leading lights can do the same for the music trade?”


of the Government isn’t listening; that an ‘IP czar’ similar to that appointed by President Obama was needed in the UK; and, most memorably, that the current administration is simply too weak to “stand up to Google”. Hmmm. The US czar she’s referring to is Victoria Espinel – who


was hardly an Iron Lady in the face of anti-SOPA warfare last year. And who was it who posted a strong-armed suggestion that the public should fight SOPA – effectively a global propaganda campaign against Obama? Ah, yes. It’s rather easier to stand up to Google when you’re not a policy-maker, clearly. That said, Harman’s nod and wink to that succulent couplet


“tax break” will have left even the most hardened industry cynic dribbling. Empty words? Can’t be done? I worked in video games when Harman’s mob drafted in the


framework for a tax incentive for that industry – finally followed through by Jeremy Hunt and co. And let me tell you, if there’s any chance of it happening, you’ve got to hit the public school- educated, classicalist pomposity of No.10 right between the eyes. How did video games – which both Boris Johnson and Gordon


Brown both publicly blamed for knife crime - do it? For one, by hammering home a fear that UK maths and science graduates were leaving for foreign climbs. That got the Bullingdon Club ruddy-faced with annoyance pretty quick. Look around: what does the music industry have in our corner?


Perhaps the answer lies in the soundtrack to the well-bred political class – something they actually respect, rather than deride. Here’s a clue: it is perhaps no fluke that Classic FM’s Darren


Henley is so well regarded in Parliamentary circles. If music has any hope of an A&R tax break, perhaps our friends


at Decca, Deutsche Grammophon or EMI Classics might be good enough to politely make the industry’s initial case.


Tim Ingham, Editor Do you have views on this column? Feel free to comment by emailing tim.ingham@intentmedia.co.uk


MPA CAUTIOUSLY UPBEAT– BUT MCPS ADMITS FISCAL HEALTH IS ‘NOT GOOD AND IN FACT GETTING WORSE’


Publishers urged to ‘think big’ on Global Rights Database


MPA AGM  BY TIM INGHAM


T


he Music Publishers’ Association urged its members to “think big”


over future changes to copyright structure and collection at its annual AGM last week – as worrying challenges facing mechanical royalties body MCPS came to the fore. The MPA debuted a new


film laying out exactly what a music publisher does, which it believes will both help educate consumers and frame the importance of strong copyright protection in front of Government. (Turn to page 22 for more on that). MPA chief executive Stephen


Navin talked of “big publishing, a big MPA… and thinking big” during his speech – not least when it came to ambitions for a true Global Rights Database. “In the case of the GRD let


us in all the complexity of the detail of this global project not lose sight of the vision ahead of us of a single authoritative database,” he said. Outgoing MCPS chairman


Nigel Elderton read a prepared speech from PRS For Music chief executive Robert Ashcroft, who addressed the £2.5 million loss the MCPS suffered in 2011. He explained that royalty


income collected from recorded media licensing in 2011 stood at £101.7m, down 13.2% – although mechanical royalties distributed only declined by 2% in part because of growth in broadcast and online revenues. “The financial health of


MCPS is not good however and in fact it is getting worse,” admitted Ashcroft. “We need to be open and


honest about this fact and work together to address this.”


Ashcroft: His prepared speech addressed the MCPS royalties loss during 2011


Ashcroft’s speech said PRS


For Music members had “broadly accepted” news of increases in commission/administration rates – as PRS takes over a greater share of its alliance with MCPS to help balance the books. “MCPS is not alone in


experiencing financial pressure; other mechanical copyright collecting societies worldwide are suffering from the effect of declining CD sales,” he added. “Our joint venture with the Nordisk Copyright Bureau is now operational, allowing us to evaluate the possibility of decommissioning our old systems, potentially saving over £1m a year in IT costs. This is


just part of the potential benefits wider consolidation can bring. “ On the subject of the GRD,


he added: “You will all be aware that ICE, the copyright database developed by PRS for Music and STIM, was chosen to provide the technology on which the future GRD is based, while our German counterparts, GEMA, are expected to announce shortly their intention to become a shareholder in ICE.” Potential cost-savings at


MCPS highlighted by its Task Force will equate to £11m savings per annum, explained Elderton – whilst the reallocation of costs with PRS would allow MCPS to “break even in 2012 and in the first half of 2013”. Elderton welcomed new MCPS chairman Peter Cornish. Meanwhile, MPA chairman


Chris Butler led tributes to MPA board member Jonathan Simon, who died in April. “The value to our business of


an individual such as Jonathan cannot be quantified in figures,” he said. “Measured instead by the esteem in which friends and colleagues held him, it is clear that we will be infinitely poorer for his absence.”


Thinking big?: MPA members at last week’s annual AGM


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