www.musicweek.com REPORT NEIGHBOURING RIGHTS
EVERYBODY NEEDS GOOD NEIGHBOURING RIGHTS
It’s becoming an increasingly significant revenue stream for labels and a steady provider of income for both featured and non-featured performers. But what exactly is a Neighbouring Right - and how can you make sure that you’re getting your fair share?
28.06.13 Music Week 21
ROYALTIES BY TOM PAKINKIS
W
hen newspaper headlines are keen to suggest that labels aren’t making money from CDs and artists aren’t making
money from anything other than live, what chance does the percussionist on track seven of Rihanna’s latest LP possibly have of scraping together next month’s rent? While publishers and songwriters can cling to their still-lucrative writing credits, many recorded music performers are still searching for that next sure-fire source of alternative income. Or are they? It may not be as talked about as
music downloads or as sexy as streaming, but the somewhat unsung ‘Neighbouring Right’ is one of few significant income streams for performers and
“[Record] sales used to be the primary source of income, now Neighbouring Rights are” GINO OLIVIERI, PREMIER MUZIK
labels - and it’s growing. The IFPI’s most recent Record Industry In Numbers report showed that Neighbouring Rights saw the biggest growth of any sector in the global music industry in 2012, as performance rights revenues grew by 9.4% internationally to $943 million. Some argue that the money that stands to be
made from Neighbouring Rights can now even surpass that of publishing copyrights - and, better yet, their true potential remains largely untapped.
ABOVE
International customers: Clockwise from left: Avicii, Lady Gaga, David Guetta and Keith Urban, just some of the acts on Premier Musik and All Right Music’s roster for Neighbouring Rights
So what exactly is a Neighbouring Right? On
the surface, it’s money that an artist and their label - plus non-featured artists who play on a given track - are due after a public play of their work, whether that's on radio, TV, in an office or a restaurant. PPL looks after all such matters in the UK, but overseas is a less standardised affair. The need for Neighbouring Rights arose in the mid-20th Century when the Gramophone caused turbulence for musicians: all of a sudden, radio stations didn’t need to contract performers to play songs live - they just had to buy a record and spin it on-air. European lawmakers realised they had to act and eventually agreed to the Rome Convention of 1961, establishing Neighbouring Rights for performing artists and record labels – so called because it sat alongside the traditional copyright royalty owed to songwriters and publishers when
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