Creators’ Rights In The Digital Landscape

21 October 2015 - Press release

- Expert panel confirmed to debate evolution of communication rights and the impact of streaming on artist and performer remuneration
 
- Publication announced: Making Available, Communication To The Public And User Interactivity ( FREE Insight Paper).
 

Pre-eminent music industry think tank and business information hub, MusicTank, University of Westminster today confirms speaker details for its forthcoming debate – Creators’ Rights In The Digital Landscape.
 
The first half of 2015 saw more than 1 trillion songs, movies and TV series streamed online - more than double the amount in 2014 – already making it a tipping-point year in the growth of streaming services.
 
This isn’t such good news for the majority of artists and performers, however, who derive significantly lower royalties from an increasing number of licensed streaming services compared to royalties deriving from broadcasts and sales of recordings – whether physical products or digital downloads.
 
Central to the debate is the presentation of a paper by Fiona McGugan - Making Available, Communication To The Public And User Interactivity - which considers the evolution of communication rights that overshadow conventional distribution and reproduction rights as music consumption increasingly shifts away from the ownership model of sales, towards access models of streaming services.
 
Understanding how this right is applied, territorial variations in the application of rights, and how licensing structures are determined according to the levels of user-interactivity of digital services lie-at the heart of possibly the single biggest issue facing the music industry in recent times - how much artists and performers get paid.
 
Building on the international pressure mounting for greater transparency in the digital market from FAC, CIMA and IAO, and complimenting the MMF’s recent launch of its Digital Dollar report, this timely panel will consider whether it’s time to re-calibrate artists rights in a digital world that sees the speed of development of new ‘access’ consumption models highlighting huge gaps in legislative solutions in the application of intellectual property rights.
 
Joining chair Keith Harris - PPL Director, Performer Affairs and MusicTank Chair - will be:
 
·      Alexander Ross - Partner, Wiggin LLP
·      Benoît Machuel - General Secretary, FIM
·      Horace Trubridge - Assistant General Secretary, Musician’s Union
·      Fiona McGugan - FAC & MMF
 
 
 
Said Keith Harris, Chair of MusicTank, University of Westminster,
It is important for the whole industry to get right the payment levels for creators in the new environment.  Their work is after all at the heart of the whole construct.  A voluntary, sensible agreement about payments and payment structures would make so much more sense than the need for legislative intervention, which might end up being the alternative, as the business model starts to teeter.
 
 
Event details
Title:               Creators’ Rights In The Digital Landscape

Date/ Time:   Tue 10th Nov 2015 | 18.30 – 21.00 hrs
Venue:           Fyvie Hall, University of Westminster, 309 Regent Street, London W1B 2UW
Cost: Earlybird rates currently apply from £20 (students £15)
 
Information & booking: http://bit.ly/MTCreatorsRights

 
Publication details

Making Available, Communication To The Public And User Interactivity:
An Analysis Of The Application Of Communication And Performing Rights To Licensed Music Streaming Services And The subsequent Impact On Performers
 
Author: Fiona McGugan.
 
Distribution: First published in London, March 2015 by MusicTank Publishing and freely
 
Available as a pdf download from musictank.co.uk  | ISBN: 978-1-909750-08-1

Access report here: https://www.musictank.co.uk/resources/reports/making-available-communication-to-the-public-user-interactivity