By focussing on the livelihoods of ordinary musicians and performers, British Music Rights regards today’s proposal from the EU Commission, to extend the term of copyright on sound recordings to 95 years, as a hugely positive step.

We also applaud the language of Internal Market and Services Commissioner Charlie McCreevy, that the Commission takes an all-encompassing “holistic approach” to intellectual property - recognising the vital role that music plays throughout Europe, both culturally and economically.

Feargal Sharkey, CEO of British Music Rights, said: “I am especially pleased that today’s announcement focuses on the ‘invisible’ members of our industry – the musicians, engineers and session players whose names are hidden away in the liner notes and credits. It is they, and not just ‘featured’ artists and record labels, who could derive real benefits from this move - and at a time in life when their earning power would be severely diminished.  

“This is, however, only a first step. A healthy copyright system not only requires equilibrium between creator and consumer, but also between creator and investor. British Music Rights will do all it can to assist the Commission and all music industry sectors directly involved, and looks forward, where appropriate, to taking a full and more active role in that process.” 

In addition to proposals on term extension, BMR also welcomes the prospect of clarity in regards to co-written musical compositions, the launch of a Green Paper on Copyright in the Knowledge Economy, and, as written in the explanatory memorandum, the Commission’s further acknowledgement that the private copying systems currently employed throughout Europe constitute one of three principle sources of secondary revenue for all EU creators.

Sharkey added: “The UK remains the only major European territory where an exception for private copying is not counterbalanced by a compensation mechanism. As a result, and according to these widely-held definitions, UK songwriters and composers have only two principle sources of secondary revenue, while their European counterparts have three.

“With UK government planning to give consumers new rights to copy music to different devices, we trust that this disadvantage will be rectified when it comes to legislation.”   

Full details of the EU Commission proposal can be found here: http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=IP/08/1156&format=HTML&aged=0&language=EN&guiLanguage=en

For further information, please contact Adam Webb on 020 7306 4447 or 07908 811223 or email adam.webb@bmr.org.
 
www.bmr.org
Notes to Editors:

• British Music Rights was established to promote greater awareness of the interests and concerns of British music composers, songwriters and publishers to UK and EU policymakers and the wider public. The primary focus is to communicate an understanding of the rights and rewards for creativity in the music business; the value of those rights to UK plc; the impact of new technologies upon music creators and publishers and the resulting policy and legislative implications. 
• Our member organisations are the British Academy of Composers and Songwriters, the Music Publishers Association, the Performing Right Society and the Mechanical-Copyright Protection Society.