18 MusicWeek 03.08.12 FEATURE DIGITAL COPYRIGHT EXCHANGE LICENSE TO THRILL
A new Government-commissioned report has investigated the music industry’s licensing issues. It’s complicated, but pay attention – it has huge implications for the future of copyright in the UK and beyond. Here’s what you need to know...
LICENSING BY TIM INGHAM
I
magine: a simple website which allowed everyone in Europe to license a piece of music at the touch of a button. No frustrating blocks in the process for emerging technologies; no irritating confusion over who is owed what. Just an Amazon-like online Eden: search, choose, purchase. Both publishing/composing rights (‘musical works’)
and recorded rights (‘sound recordings’) would be covered – so there’d be no confusion amongst those from outside the music industry’s that they’d paid ‘twice’ for a song. A pipe dream? Richard Hooper doesn’t think so. Hooper, a former deputy chair of OFCOM, was appointed by the Government last November to find a solution to a troublesome query: is it possible to create a true online Digital Copyright Exchange (DCE)? The question was put forward by Professor Ian
Hargreaves in his root and branch review of copyright – and Hooper reckons he’s highlighted the foundations of a solution. For the past eight months, Hooper and his team
have investigated the music industry alongside other markets reliant on copyright. In addition to a Digital Copyright Exchange, Hooper’s final report has called for an easier blanket licensing model – where companies apply to PPL or PRS to be able to play a vast catalogue of licensed music with just one payment. It also calls for better data ‘building blocks’ (to
ensure that when someone is looking to license, the information they receive is comprehensive and correct) and, importantly, the creation of a Copyright Licensing Steering Group. This group would drive home implementation of the Digital Copyright Exchange. Here we highlight some of the key findings and
recommendations from Hooper’s research in more detail – and some of the questions they throw up…
THERE IS A PERCEPTION THAT MUSIC IS HARD TO LICENCE. IT’S WRONG.
Hooper’s report continually requests that the process of music licensing is made less complicated – and involves fewer companies, particularly across Europe. However, Hooper himself reports: “There is a widespread perception that copyright licensing in the music industry is not as easy to use or accessible as it should be. The reality is that the music industry has made significant strides to streamline copyright licensing, especially over the eight months of the review period.” Hooper says his team invited individuals or organisations who had
experienced difficulty with music copyright licensing to come forward – so that he could arrange meetings with leading industry figures. “In four months,” he concludes, “we have heard from no-one.” However, Hooper notes that the incorrect perception needs addressing by the
industry – and that it “damages the [music] industry when it makes any ask of Government regarding stronger enforcement against copyright infringement.”
The future? Nokia is one company that has complained about the complexity of licensing music across the European Union
www.musicweek.com
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