www.musicweek.com FEATURE DANCE ROYALTIES IS DANCE ACCOUNTED FOR?


As physical music sales start to wane, royalty collection is becoming more important than ever before - but are writers and producers in the dance genre getting short-changed?


ROYALTIES n BY DAVID ELKABAS, CO-FOUNDER


OF INTERNATIONAL MUSIC MANAGEMENT AND TALENT BOOKING AGENCY MN2S


T


his year I was on the panel at Reeperbahn Festival, discussing UK royalty collection systems and the electronic music industry. It soon became apparent that most people


shared the same view; that many electronic music writers and producers still aren't getting the royalties at the level they should (something the Performing Rights Society - PRS for Music - admitted earlier this year). It was agreed that the reason for this is the archaic royalties collection system, which is failing to keep track of today's ever-changing digital music landscape - where music is more widely accessible, easily downloadable, free to stream to produce compilations and set lists, and mass produced thanks to advances in digital audio technology. The collection societies have acknowledged the


global rise of the electronic music business - which is now worth an estimated $4.5 billion globally - and the need to improve the collection and distribution of royalties in this sector. Earlier this year PRS for Music launched


Amplify, a new initiative to help more people in the electronic music industry benefit from their tracks. One way Amplify aims to achieve this is by raising awareness among writers so they join PRS for Music and start earning from their music. This is a positive step as there is still a lack of awareness among writers around collection societies and the need to join in-order to get paid royalty fees. But part of the problem is also a shortage of motivation to join collection societies, fuelled by an inaccurate royalties reporting system that doesn't cater for the electronic music industry and, in particular, the less mainstream, up-and- coming talent. At the moment, set lists played by DJs in


clubs, during live performances and on some radio stations are not being recorded. For just two major events like Glade or Creamfields, PRS For Music claims that the industry is missing out on royalty fees in the region of £85,500. In February Amplify did announce plans to


work with DJ technology specialists to find ways to report set lists automatically from clubs, radio and live performances. But eight months on and we are no closer to


hearing of a solution to ensure that royalties are reaching the right hands. This is despite advances in audible recognition technology and the growth of the electronic music industry tracing back to the late 1960s. A more sophisticated IT infrastructure is


desperately needed that can instantly capture DJ's set lists accurately. Once this data is captured, the collection societies need to take responsibility for gathering and reporting this data. They mustn't


15.11.13 MusicWeek 19


“Many electronic music writers and producers still aren’t getting the royalties they should. Societies have acknowledged the need to improve the collection and distribution of royalties in this sector” DAVID ELKABAS, MN2S


rely on the DJ or venue - as they do with the more contemporary live music industry - otherwise it will not work . As PRS for Music highlighted during the


launch of Amplify, DJs are less likely to submit set lists than their guitar-playing counterparts. This is because DJs don't necessarily follow a 'set list' of tracks; they respond to atmosphere and change their tracks depending on the night. As well as investment in technology there also


needs to be consistency across all venues in the way playlists are gathered and processed. Major radio and TV stations and the larger


contemporary live music events have to submit detailed, minute-by-minute playlists yet smaller radio stations and contemporary live events only


ABOVE Big hitters: Calvin Harris (left) and Avicii (right) featured in Music Week’s list of Top 50 hit songwriters of Q3 2013 - but are dance writers and producers getting the royalties they deserve?


have to send in sample playlists, with few clubs and live DJ performances submitting anything at all. For smaller broadcasters and venues, royalty fees are then paid based on the anticipated number of times a song could have been played depending on its exposure, popularity and its position in the music charts at that time. This system is not only unnecessary, due to the audible technology available, but unfair to the electronic music business which, thanks to digital audio, is producing a lot of great talent. This talent may be new to the scene or less mainstream and more underground so they're not seeing the royalties they’re owed. The fact we have collection societies in the UK


is something to celebrate and to be proud of but it's a system that no longer works in its current state. It may have been effective in the rock and roll era, when our guitar -counterparts readily and easily submitted play-lists but now it needs an injection of investment to develop an IT infrastructure that can capture data consistently and accurately across all avenues. As with our roads, unless we continue to build the right infrastructure, none of us will be able to drive forward.


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