18 MusicWeek 20.07.12 FEATURE NEIGHBOURING RIGHTS
FIGHTING FOR FAIR ROYALTY PAYMENTS
Fintage House and Rights Agency Limited are pooling their might to recoup the international royalties their music clients deserve
TENACIOUS D CLIENTS BECOME MASTERS OF THEIR DESTINY
“Artists question why they should give a distributor or licensee overseas the right to collect money” DAMIAN PULLE, FINTAGE
FINTAGE’S CLIENTS STAND TO BENEFIT from Damian Pulle’s tenacious royalty chasing - but the RAL man’s artists might just find the partnership brings them a new freedom to control more rights, too. Pulle told Music Week that RAL’s clients will now be
welcome to discuss signing a master rights deal with Fintage House. “Over the last year, many of my artist clients have asked me to look after the label side of their neighboring rights,” he explains. “Traditionally, record companies, licensees and distributors have collected their 50% share to a label while the artist receives the rest (50%) of the pot. “But with the way things have been changing, more
artists are now putting out their own recordings. They question why they should give a distributor or licensee overseas the rights to collect money [derived from their masters].” Said Fintage’s Niels Teves: “The other services we
provide - publishing and master rights, will be on offer to Damian’s clients. We won’t be pushing hard, but we’re open for business. We expect that will grow and that together we bring strength to break down more barriers and raise more income for our existing clients [in Neighbouring Rights] from collection societies across the world.”
ROYALTIES BY TIM INGHAM
“I
have been quite tough in my approach to collection societies. I’m sorry to say that several amongst them don’t seem to understand anything
but toughness.” Damian Pulle, founder of Rights Agency
Limited, is widely regarded as the first independent agent to receive Neighbouring Rights monies from various countries around the world. Fighting on behalf of clients such as Phil Collins
and Sir Paul McCartney, he has collected millions of owed royalties for artists across the globe, and done so fearlessly. Between 1996 and 2006, he legally challenged a
Belgian collection society with the help of the Ministries of Justice and Economics, eventually winning around £10 million for 700 artists. He even took his case to the EU antitrust body
against a group of collection societies whom he says were “pulled into line”. But Pulle - an ex business affairs manager of
Status Quo - admits that there are collection societies around the globe who are still getting away with not paying international artists. He’s open to the fact, but it frustrates him to his core. “In certain territories - I’ve been making contact
[with collection socities and labels] in China, South-East Asia and, through partners, in Latin America - I hit brick walls,” he says. “That goes especially in countries like Argentina or Chile. They are particularly obstructive. “I find the situation in Australia extremely frustrating. It’s a big economy - hardly a third-
ABOVE
Backing the rights team: RAL founder Damian Pulle (left) and Fintage House co-CEO Niels Teves
world country - and they simply have not been paying British artists. “I’ve written to the IFPI and the majors in the
UK, saying: ‘Where is my artists’ money?’ All I get are feeble answers.” If it sounds like Pulle needs a little bit of extra
muscle to go with his might, that’s where Fintage House comes in. The two companies, previously operating in friendly competition, have joined forces in a unique partnership that will benefit them on both sides - and leave no stone unturned in the search for artist royalties around the world. The pair will also pull together when it comes to
offering publishing and master rights possibilities to clients - a Fintage specialty. And in the future Pulle will acquire the business boost offered by Fintage’s technology, including 24-hour online accounting for artists and managers. But the main focus certainly seems to be a drive to seek out more due monies for both parties’ clients.
RIGHTS STUFFWHO ARE FINTAGE AND RAL?
RIGHTS AGENCY LIMITED (RAL) was widely acknowledged as one of the UK’s first ever neighbouring rights operation when founded by Damian Pulle in 1988. The firm now counts artists as high profile as Sir Paul McCartney, Eric Clapton and Phil Collins (inset) amongst its clients. RAL has entered
into a strategic
business investment agreement with Fintage House – a TV/Film and music rights collection business and publisher, whose clients include The Elvis Presley estate, Britney Spears and Jason Mraz and which recently picked up an Ivor Novello alongside Cutting Edge for Best Film Score for movie The First Grader.
“We started our Neighbouring Rights business
solution ten years ago,” explains co-CEO of Fintage House Niels Teves. “We were healthy competitors, but we have
always had a huge respect for what Damian created. Now, we also expect that with our combined strength, we’ll be able to raise income for our existing clients even further.” The timing of the pairing between Fintage and
Rights Agency Limited is interesting: The European Union has drafted a new bill that aims to combat music piracy and force collection societies to pay artist royalties quicker. The EC presented the bill last week, blaming
poor financial management of collecting societies’ revenues - among other problems - for weakened copyright within the EU. “Collective management is not necessarily a bad
thing - but it’s quite right that the EU is looking at it,” adds Teves. “But societies must be transparent about what
they do and what they deduct. It’s a logical next step and Damian and I are helping [lawmakers] to get that in place.” Although Fintage House and RAL’s usual
approach to the media is quite low key, their message to the collection societies is now strong, clear and very public: they will not sit on the sidelines, and they are prepared to go the extra mile to get what their artists rightfully deserve. “Registering my artists with a collection society is
not the end of the story,” explains Pulle. “But now, with Fintage at my side, I am stronger in ensuring that for our artists, that story has a happy end. “They have to take notice of us both.”
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