‘’ THE COPYRIGHT TRIBUNAL HAS BECOME A CRUCIAL ELEMENT IN THE CREATIVE INDUSTRIES YET THE MOST SIGNIFICANT REFORMS RECOMMENDED BY PARLIAMENT ARE STILL TO BE IMPLEMENTED.”
DOMINIC MCGONIGAL DIRECTOR OF GOVERNMENT RELATIONS PPL
The other area of significant progress was in the campaign for a performance right in the USA. The radio industry in America has grown into a $16bn business, while paying not a cent to performers and record companies who provide so much of the programming. PPL has been supporting the musicFIRST Coalition in Washington right from its inception and over 6,000 PPL performers signed the petition in support of US artists. Following the election of Barack Obama, the Performance Rights Bill was tabled in early 2009 and it successfully completed its passage through the Judiciary Committees of both Houses. The final stage is a vote on the floor of the Senate and Congress although the outcome is far from decided. The NAB launched a series of adverts calling for the Bill to be axed and the debate in the final stages is likely to be heated.
Looking forward, there are more legislative issues to be tackled to give performers and record companies full rights over their recordings and to facilitate licensing at a fair rate. Chief of these is reform of the Copyright Tribunal, as recommended by a Parliamentary Select Committee Report. The Copyright Tribunal has become a crucial element in the creative industries in the UK, making commercial judgements where thousands of users and tens of millions of pounds of creators’ revenues are at stake. In the digital world, the Copyright Tribunal is being called upon to take on additional duties, including supervising the licensing of so-called orphan works.
PPL was a key witness in the Select Committee Inquiry and has been closely engaged with the Government on the reforms. The Government has already appointed Lay Members to the Tribunal with expertise in IP, created a separate administration and revised the Rules to improve case management. The most significant reforms recommended by Parliament are still to be implemented and PPL will pursue these.
Throughout the year, PPL has worked closely with others in the music industry, in particular the new pan-industry body UK Music, jointly funded by PPL and PRS for Music on behalf of creators and rights holders. During the year, PPL became a founding member of the new Creative Coalition Campaign, bringing together the talent unions, creative businesses and artists from across the creative industries to deal with online piracy. PPL’s active engagement with the Broadband Stakeholder Group and the CBI also proved valuable as high speed broadband raised the stakes for all creators. The Digital Economy Bill, with substantive provisions for bringing ISPs and rights holders together to tackle illegal filesharing, was announced in the Queen’s Speech in November 2009 and became law in April 2010.
So, while performers and record companies ended 2009 with better prospects for licensing but with an attack on the value of their rights, PPL will continue to press for improvements in the legislative framework, so that the true value of our members’ repertoire is reflected in the revenues that flow through PPL.
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