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98-880: PRS for Music Limited (formerly The MCPS-PRS Alliance Limited ) is a British music copyright collective , made up of two collection societies: the Mechanical-Copyright Protection Society (MCPS) and the Performing Right Society (PRS). It undertakes collective rights management for musical works on behalf of its 175,000 members. PRS for Music was formed in 1997 following the MCPS-PRS Alliance. In 2009, PRS and MCPS-PRS Alliance realigned their brands and became PRS for Music. PRS represents their songwriter, composer and music publisher members’ performing rights, and collects royalties on their behalf whenever their music

196-585: A deed of assignment with GEMA without fulfilling the professional requirements for full membership. Members of this last group are termed "associated members" within the organization, but they do not enjoy the rights associated with membership under German law of association. As of 2010, GEMA also represents a further 2 million international rights-holders within Germany, through reciprocal arrangements with other performance rights organizations. Membership in GEMA

294-649: A private copying levy (or: blank media tax ) can be applied to devices and media that "[...] are used for the making of reproductions [...]", which is already included in the price. This levy first goes to the German Central Office for Dubbing Rights (ZPÜ)  [ de ] , and from there a portion is forwarded to GEMA. In 2004, the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) applied to lower

392-466: A 56-year-old shelf-stacker at a village in Clackmannanshire for pursuing her for singing to herself while stacking shelves. PRS for Music initially told her that she would be prosecuted and fined thousands of pounds if she continued to sing without a "live performance" licence. However PRS for Music subsequently acknowledged its mistake. In October 2010, it was reported that Sussex Police, in

490-483: A 61-year-old mechanic that he would have to pay £150 to play his radio while he worked by himself. It also targeted a bakery that played a radio in a private room at the back of the shop, a woman who used a classical radio to calm her horses and community centres that allowed children to sing carols in public. However, questions have been raised about the tactic of targeting small businesses: Radio stations pay large amounts of money to licensing organizations PRS and PPL for

588-475: A daunting task for lone artists. In order to be represented by GEMA, authors (i.e., composers and lyricists along with their publishers and heirs) must become a member and sign a deed of assignment ( German : Berechtigungsvertrag ) with GEMA, transferring the exercise and exploitation of media rights for the author's entire repertoire to GEMA. Member authors are entitled to apply for full membership after spending five years as extraordinary members , fulfilling

686-617: A deed of assignment with GEMA but do not fulfill the requirements for extraordinary membership can become associated members—along with those whose application for membership status has been refused. Associated members do not count as members in the legal sense, as defined in the German civil code concerning associations. Full and extraordinary members must be either composers, lyricists, or music publishers. Extraordinary members can become full members, when they have received at least €30,000 in fee payouts from GEMA over five consecutive years (of which

784-574: A failure to find "mutually acceptable terms for a new licence" with PRS for Music. As a consequence, PRS for Music established the Fair Play for Creators campaign in order to provide a forum where musicians could "publicly demonstrate their concern over the way their work is treated by online businesses". David Arnold , Jazzie B , Billy Bragg , Guy Chambers , Robin Gibb , Pete Waterman , Mike Chapman , Wayne Hector , Pam Sheyne and Debbie Wiseman sent

882-652: A few members of the GDT split off from the organization and founded GEMA ( Genossenschaft zur Verwertung musikalischer Aufführungsrechte , which is not identical to the present-day GEMA). One of the founding members was composer Leon Jessel . In 1916, GEMA and AKM's German branch merged into the Association for the Protection of Musical Performing Rights in Germany ( German : Verband zum Schutze musikalischer Aufführungsrechte für Deutschland ). All of this resulted in

980-466: A jointly owned subsidiary, PPL PRS Ltd, to collect all licence fees for public performances. PPL PRS Ltd is based in Leicester, England. In July 2015, PRS for Music, Sweden collecting society STIM and German collecting society GEMA announced the completion of a joint venture to launch an integrated multi-territory music licensing and processing hub covering European territories. In November 2015, it

1078-715: A letter to The Times newspaper in support of the campaign launched by PRS for Music. A rights deal was settled in September 2009 between PRS for Music and Google that allowed YouTube users in UK to view music videos. Wiltshire Constabulary refused to pay PRS for Music for a £32,000 licence fee in April 2009. Instead the force told all officer and civilian staff that music could no longer be played in their workplaces but that ban excluded patrol cars. A total of 38 of 49 UK police forces currently hold PRS for Music licences. In May 2009,

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1176-458: A licensing deal resulting in a Copyright Tribunal dispute. In July 2016, The Copyright Tribunal awarded in favour of PRS for Music. ITV appealed and subsequently lost a High Court appeal in early 2017. In 2015, PRS for Music entered into a licensing agreement with the Berlin -based company SoundCloud after several months of litigation. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. The Santiago Agreement

1274-452: A local station, where previously it had been considered a national station. This led to a decrease in royalty rates from £7.50 per minute to 50p per minute of broadcast music. The English-language sister station, BBC Radio Wales, is classified by PRS for Music as a national station and attracts the higher rates. As of December 2012, Eos is in negotiations with the BBC, whose Welsh-language service

1372-516: A money-saving move, were not intending to renew their PRS for Music licence, meaning that police officers would no longer be able to listen to the radio in their squad cars or other work places. In 2012, a high per centage of Welsh-language musicians left PRS for Music to form a separate agency, Eos (Welsh for nightingale), after changes in the way PRS for Music calculates royalties led to a fifteen-fold decrease in payments. In 2007, PRS for Music had reclassified Welsh-language station BBC Radio Cymru as

1470-602: A monopoly position. On 28 September 1933, the State-Approved Society for the Exploitation of Musical Performing Rights ( German : Staatlich genehmigte Gesellschaft zur Verwertung musikalischer Aufführungsrechte ; STAGMA ) arose out of the Verband zum Schutze musikalischer Afführungsrechte für Deutschland and was issued a monopoly on the exercise of musical performing rights. The still-existing AMMRE

1568-499: A number of tariffs for organisations in different sectors (businesses, government organisations, educational establishments, and so on). Dependent on their size and the extent to which each premises uses music, whether they are commercial premises or not, as well as other criteria, PRS for Music's tariffs vary. Around 350,000 UK businesses have paid and are licensed to play music under a PRS for Music licence, however some workplaces do not need one: In 2018, PPL and PRS for Music formed

1666-498: A payout of £605.1 m (up 14.7%). In 2007, PRS for Music took a Scottish car servicing company to court because the employees were allegedly "listening to the radio at work, allowing the music to be 'heard by colleagues and customers' " . In June 2008, PRS for Music accused Lancashire Constabulary of playing music at police stations not covered by a license, and sought an injunction and payments for damages. In 2014, PRS for Music and commercial broadcaster ITV failed to negotiate

1764-419: A points system, which distinguishes between "entertainment music" ( German : U-Musik, Unterhaltungsmusik ) and "serious music" ( German : E-Musik, ernste Musik ); for example, a single pop song is worth 12 points in this system, whereas a large orchestral work with a playing time longer than 70 minutes is worth 1,200 points. According to Article 54 of German authors' rights law  [ de ] ,

1862-566: A single mechanical licensing database overseen by music publishers and songwriters. The cost of creating and maintaining this database will be paid for by digital streaming services and the database and tariff will be determined by an authority created under the MMA. The mechanism provided under the act will determine unclaimed royalties due to music professionals and provide a consistent legal process to receive them. Previously, these unclaimed royalties were held by digital service providers like Spotify to

1960-522: A situation that had effects contrary to the original interests of authors and promoters as well as users—that is, two competing collecting societies. In 1930, the GDT (in the form of the AFMA) joined with the Verband under the label Verband zum Schutze musikalischer Aufführungsrechte für Deutschland . However, the business units and facilities of both societies were not impacted by the consolidation. Both collecting societies continued to operate separately—all

2058-799: A society under liquidation . Harald Heker took over chairmanship of the board of directors in 2007. See Structure and membership for definitions of full member , extraordinary member , and associated member . After the deduction of expenditures, GEMA's income is paid out to rights holders (approximately 40% to members and 60% to other rights-holders). During the payout process in 2010, an average of ca. €58,000 were apportioned to each full member, ca. €2,270 to each extraordinary member, and ca. €1,300 to each associated member. The internal distribution within these status groups remains confidential. In 2010, 33 (1%) legal successors had full membership, while 6 were extraordinary members (0.1%) and 3,749 associated members (6.9%). These numbers illustrate that, since

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2156-464: A statutory monopoly, while others recognise effective monopolies through regulations. In Austria, the Society of Authors, Composers and Publishers ( Gesellschaft der Autoren, Komponisten und Musikverleger , AKM) has a statutory monopoly. German law recognizes GEMA as an effective monopoly, and the burden of proof is on an accused infringer that a work is not managed by GEMA. GEMA has one of

2254-640: A subject of legal rights and duties is based upon state conferral (under Article 22 of the German civil code ). The chairperson of the executive board (CEO) is Tobias Holzmüller (since 2023); the chairperson of the board of directors is Ralf Weigand . GEMA is organized according to Vereinsrecht  [ de ] (German law of association). It directly represents some 3,300 composers , lyricists , and music publishers as full members, along with approximately 6,400 more as members with sharply restricted rights and another 55,000 authors who have entered into

2352-482: A trustee for the rights-exercising collecting society: it has no influence over how and when the collecting society will disburse the collected royalties to its member authors. As of 2009 and based on a total of 151 agreements, GEMA represents more than 2 Million musical authors from the entire world and maintains data on over 8.5 Million musical works in its works-documentation files. Collecting societies have joined together internationally into umbrella groups such as

2450-485: Is being managed in a manner detrimental to the interests of the authors and other owners of the copyright. The major copyright societies in India are The Indian Performing Right Society Limited [IPRS] (for composers and publishers), Indian Reprographic Right Organisation [IRRO] (for literary organisations) and Indian Singers Rights Association [ISRA] (for performers). Phonographic Performance Limited [PPL] (for producers)

2548-568: Is highly dependent on its members' output. From 1 January 2013, a PRS licence will not be required to play such music, and will not give any permission to do so. Copyright collective Copyright societies evolved out of the need to have an organised body for licensing and managing copyrighted works. Without copyright societies, it would be impossible for users like restaurants, malls and large events to collect licenses from individual copyright holders and negotiate terms with them. Copyright societies negotiate prices and create tariffs on behalf of

2646-424: Is legally regulated in all European states. German author's rights law ( German : Urheberrechtsgesetze ) grants authors a range of exploitation rights ( German : Verwertungsrechte ) that the individual author would find difficult to exercise without the assistance of a collecting society, which is why the author transfers them. Transferred exploitation rights become usage rights ( German : Nutzungsrechte ) in

2744-421: Is necessarily voluntary, since all usage rights (stemming from German authors' rights law ) are reserved exclusively by the author. In contrast with copyright as it usually appears in common law , authors' rights are inalienable (i.e., non-transferable), which means that the author can transfer only the exercise of these rights to another natural or legal person . Therefore, the author theoretically reserves

2842-608: Is no longer operating as a copyright society under S.33 of the Copyrights Act 1957. The validity of PPL operating as a company has been debated and was considered by the 2014 case of Leopold cafe v. Novex Communication in which the Bombay High Court that s.30 of the Copyright Act 1957 allows a duly authorised agent to issue licenses on behalf of authors and other owners, therefore organisations can perform

2940-483: Is played or performed publicly. MCPS also represents songwriters, composers and music publishers – representing their mechanical rights, and collects royalties whenever their music is reproduced as a physical product – this includes CDs, DVDs, digital downloads and broadcast or online. PRS (Performing Right Society) and MCPS (Mechanical Copyright Protection Society) are two separate collection societies with PRS running its own operations, providing services to MCPS under

3038-552: The Confédération Internationale des Sociétés d'Auteurs et Compositeurs (CISAC), using this organization as a lobby group to influence governments, international organisations, and the European Community . GEMA often features in discussions about copyright , private copying , webradio and file sharing . For example, the private copying levy on blank recordable media and recording devices

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3136-686: The Copyright Act of 1911 . Mecolico licensed the mechanical rights within musical works and merged with the Copyright Protection Society in 1924. Phonographic Performance Limited (PPL) collected fees for playing gramophone recordings. Another agency, the British Copyright Protection Company or Britico was founded in 1932 by Alphonse Tournier, specialising on collecting royalties in the UK on French and German musical copyright, and becoming

3234-535: The German civil code (see Articles 21–79), holding instead the pseudo-title of "associated member." In 2010, approximately 24.11% of fee revenues were distributed to associated members. GEMA is organized by professional and status groupings. German members of GEMA can be divided into three groups: 54,605 associated members ( German : angeschlossene Mitglieder ), 6,406 extraordinary members ( German : außerordentliche Mitglieder ) and 3,343 full members ( German : ordentliche Mitglieder ). Those who have signed

3332-706: The Law Concerning Author's Rights to Works of Literature and Musical Art ( German : Gesetz betreffend das Urheberrecht an Werken der Literatur und der Tonkunst ) first set down in law that the public performance of a musical work required the permission of the author. The Consortium of German Composers ( German : Genossenschaft Deutscher Tonsetzer ; GDT ) subsequently founded the Institute for Musical Performing Rights ( German : Anstalt für musikalische Aufführungsrechte ; AFMA ) in 1903. This came much later than in other states such as France, where

3430-684: The Nazi power structure, and the leading members of STAGMA were die-hard and voluntary Nazis . The CEO of STAGMA was Leo Ritter , who occupied the same position in the original GEMA and was in the habit of giving Hitler 's Mein Kampf as a prize to worthy employees. STAGMA continued its work after the Second World War , but under the title of GEMA ( Gesellschaft für musikalische Aufführungs- und mechanische Vervielfältigungsrechte ) starting from 24 August 1947. Erich Schulze  [ de ]

3528-485: The "Lighthouse of Culture" and a "rock in the surf of the waves of digitalization." According to him, GEMA succeeded in avoiding "pointless competition." To him, the internet was "nothing but a virtual department store," that should be assimilated in a hostile takeover. He went into retirement at the end of 2005. After the reunification of Germany, many composers from the former GDR joined GEMA, but not all. The AWA has been dissolved since 1990, but it nonetheless persists as

3626-686: The 100-year anniversary of the first collection society in Germany. This book shed light on the role of the collecting society after the Nazi era. In 1950, after the founding of the German Democratic Republic ( GDR ) and the partition of Germany (and as a consequence of the division in currencies), a society with comparable functions came into being in the GDR, the Institute for the Preservation of Performing and Reproduction Rights in

3724-478: The Area of Music ( German : Anstalt zur Wahrung der Aufführungs- und Vervielfältigungsrechte auf dem Gebiet der Musik ; AWA ). In 1982, GEMA collected 532.8 Million Deutschmarks . In 1990, CSU politician Reinhold Kreile  [ de ] succeeded Erich Schulze as chairman of the board. Towards the end of his term of office, he dedicated himself to fighting against digitalization. He characterized GEMA as

3822-563: The British Chambers of Commerce published a survey of business attitudes to PRS for Music. Just 6% of companies rated their experience as good or excellent. In contrast, over half said their experience had been poor or very poor. Businesses were also asked to submit comments about their experiences. Many of these replies referred to the PRS for Music's behaviour as "aggressive" and "threatening". In October 2009, PRS for Music apologised to

3920-660: The British Copyright Protection Association in 1962. This company, Britico, started to share computer facilities with PRS in 1970. PRS for Music administers the performance rights and mechanical rights of about 41 million musical works on behalf of its songwriters, composers and publishing members and in 2018 processed over 11.1 trillion uses of music. PRS for Music licenses and collects royalties for its members' musical works whenever they are publicly performed, or recordings of them are broadcast, streamed online or played in public spaces, both in

4018-413: The Copyright Act 1957. ISRA represents the interests of singers and aims to protect performer's rights as enshrined in S.38 and S.38A of the Copyrights Act 1957. IPRS represents composers, lyricists and publishers of music in India and is a registered copyright society under S.33 of the Copyright Act 1957. The Screenwriters Association of India [SRAI] earlier known as Film Writers Association represents

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4116-542: The Copyright Act of 1957. In order to do the business of issuing or granting license in respect of literary, dramatic, musical and artistic works incorporated in a cinematograph films or sound recordings it is necessary that the organization be registered as a copyright society under Section 33. The proviso to section 33 sub clause 3 states ‘Provided that the Central Government shall not ordinarily register more than one copyright society to do business in respect of

4214-563: The European Union usually hold monopolies in their respective national markets, and German law recognizes GEMA as an effective monopoly. German case law has established the so-called GEMA Vermutung , a presumption that works are managed by GEMA due to its effective monopoly position. As such, in Germany the burden of proof is on the accused infringer that the work is not managed by GEMA. Upon coming into effect in January 1902,

4312-481: The GDT published a memorandum on the spirit and purpose of the AFMA, as there remained a great deal of confusion—as much among musicians as among event promoters and users. A central point of the memo was the following paragraph, most of whose contents now appear in the association rules of GEMA: The time after the foundation of the AFMA was quite turbulent. In 1909, the GDT founded a second society focused exclusively on

4410-540: The IFPI (regarding music videos , downloads, and ring tones ) in 2006 were decided in favor of GEMA by the board of arbitration of the German Patent and Trademark Office. GEMA also exercises the rights of authors in the online sector. GEMA licenses responsible content providers , such as Musicload , Apple 's iTunes Store , Spotify , Napster , and others. The data is provided by GEMA itself; since 1 January 2007,

4508-598: The U.S. and Canada, groups that provide intermediary functions between copyright holders and performers of works such as music are called performance rights organisations or PROs. Other organizations such as artists' rights groups license and collect royalties for the reproduction of works such as paintings by living or recently deceased artists whose work has not yet entered the public domain . There are also collectives that collect royalties for copies from magazines and scholarly journals such as Access Copyright in Canada. In

4606-531: The UK and globally through its partner network. After operating costs are deducted, the remaining money is distributed to PRS for Music's songwriter, composer and publisher members and to affiliate societies. The principal sources of PRS for Music revenue collection are broadcasting (i.e. radio and television channels), public performance (i.e. music at gigs, concerts, theatres, restaurants, retailers and workplaces), online (i.e. music streamed online, digitally downloaded), and international. PRS for Music also has

4704-471: The US, PROs ensure that rights holders are paid their share of public performance royalties, by issuing licenses to different companies and establishments and tracking where and how often the songs of their affiliates are performed at these public venues. An author can only be part of one PRO, as the five existing PROs in the US have distinct systems for tariffs and payment of royalty as they compete with each other in

4802-446: The activities of a copyright society without being registered under S.33 but it will not be referred to as a copyright society and cannot issue licenses in its own name. PPL now operates as a Copyrights Organisation [CRO] and can only issue licenses as an agent, therefore it must issue licenses in the name of the copyright owners and not itself. See Copyright Licensing Agency , Phonographic Performance Limited , and PRS for Music . In

4900-459: The always-required usage rights from GEMA by paying a fee, which is to be paid to the rights-holders after the deduction of an administrative handling charge. Licensing fees must be paid to GEMA for the public performance of protected musical works belonging to GEMA's so-called "world inventory" ( German : Weltrepertoire ); these are then paid out to its members according to a complex distribution scheme. The division of royalties operates through

4998-682: The appearance of YouTube on 15 February 2005, absolutely no negative effects on earnings from usage rights can be detected to date. On the contrary, there has even been a considerable increase in income since 2005 (see Blocking of YouTube videos in Germany ). It can also be seen that the share of revenues has continually increased for full members—at the expense of extraordinary members. GEMA has entered into reciprocal agreements over performing and broadcasting rights with 73 of its foreign sister companies. For mechanical reproduction rights, GEMA entered into reciprocal agreements with 51 different collecting societies. A reciprocal agreement facilitates

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5096-408: The associated members (6.9%). As a consequence, a minority of 26 currently-active composers and lyricists must contend with a majority of 38 rights managers and legal successors. Users of GEMA-protected works—primarily manufacturers of audio/video media, radio and television broadcasters, and the organizers of events such as music festivals, street festivals, Christmas markets and many more —procure

5194-512: The authors that they represent and offset the imbalance of power between the users and the copyright holders. The lobbying power of copyright societies is especially important in industries like the music industry, where authors and owners of copyright are often placed at a disadvantage. The music streaming revolution was also projected as an attack on the power imbalance in the music industry. The evolution of technology and influence of music aggregators like Spotify, Apple Music and Pandora are changing

5292-425: The case of GEMA: composer, lyricist, or publisher) who has fulfilled all the entry requirements. GEMA is governed by a double-obligation to contract, that is: 1) on the one hand, it must take on and exercise any usage rights that have been transferred to it from its members; 2) on the other hand, it must also provide licensing in exchange for money to any music-user making a request. Copyright collecting societies in

5390-405: The chairperson. According to GEMA by-laws, the delegates for the extraordinary and associated members must be appointed according to the following pattern: 32 delegates must be composers (of which at least 12 must be inheritors/ legal successors ), 12 lyricists (of which at least 6 inheritors), and 20 publishers. In 2010, there were 6 inheritors among the extraordinary members (0.1%) and 3,749 among

5488-498: The collecting society SACEM had already been founded in 1851, having its roots in the Agence Centrale , an interest group of musicians and publishers. Founders of the AFMA included Richard Strauss , Hans Sommer and Friedrich Rösch  [ de ] . The GDT was headed by some of the most successful composers of the time, including Engelbert Humperdinck , Georg Schumann and most notably Richard Strauss . In 1904,

5586-478: The copyright collective to discharge its functions, including the detection of unauthorized use, negotiation of licenses, collection of remuneration and distribution of collected remuneration amongst the members of the copyright collective on the basis of collected data. Copyright collecting societies in the European Union usually hold monopolies in their respective national markets. Some countries create

5684-607: The copyright society has control over all or most of the copyrighted works in a particular industry. Copyright law is territorial in nature, but copyrights are protected in multiple countries through international instruments such as the Berne Convention and the TRIPS Agreement . Along with licensing, copyright societies monitor the use of copyrighted works assigned to them and ensure that the copyright holders are fairly remunerated for such use. In order to monitor

5782-507: The copyright society representing the owner, and forwards payments to it. GEMA (German organization) The Gesellschaft für musikalische Aufführungs- und mechanische Vervielfältigungsrechte ( GEMA ; "Society for musical performing and mechanical reproduction rights") is a government-mandated collecting society and performance rights organization based in Germany, with administrative offices in Berlin and Munich . GEMA represents

5880-593: The cross-licensing agreements formed by 24 collecting societies in Europe were in violation of anti-competition laws. Along with Phonographic Performance Limited (PPL), PRS for Music use the Centre for Education and Finance Management (CEFM) as agents to collect licensing money from schools and colleges. Universities have separate arrangements. In 2008, PRS for Music began a concerted drive to make commercial premises pay for annual "performance" licences. In one case it told

5978-457: The detriment of the authors. All of this will also ensure that artists are paid more and have a fair mechanism to approach for getting the money they are owed. This changes the scheme of S.115 of the US which governs compulsory licensing and allows the authority created under the act to issue blanket licenses for music to streaming services. While this does take away some agency of artists, there has been overwhelming support for this legislation from

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6076-412: The download reports for the iTunes Store , which are used to determine their royalty payments. This acquisition is guided by the country's legal regime. Some jurisdictions, such as Hungary, create legal monopolies, and de facto monopolies arise in others. Once rights are acquired, the copyright collective then has to collect data on the uses of copyrighted works. The processing of this data will enable

6174-749: The economic aspects and the distribution of money from royalties of Italian-copyrighted music to authors and on their behalf. BUMA/STEMRA are two private organisations in the Netherlands , the Buma Association ( Dutch : Vereniging Buma ) and the Stemra Foundation ( Dutch : Stichting Stemra ) that operate as one single company that acts as the Dutch collecting society for composers and music publishers . Copyright Societies in India have to register themselves under section 33 of

6272-465: The exercise of online usage rights for certain parts of its inventory is no longer managed by GEMA, but rather through CELAS  [ de ] . The charges for performances and background music are tiered. The playback of GEMA-protected music in telephone systems as background music for answering messages or on-hold music also must be declared to GEMA. Many businesses (especially small ones) are unaware of this obligation. The same applies to

6370-456: The existing system of copyright licensing and might make copyright societies obsolete. While the system of copyright societies is similar in all countries, their influence over the industry and mode of operation varies from country to country. Copyright societies operate by acquiring the right to license works from the owners and then negotiating and licensing the works to others. They usually operate in one particular industry and try to acquire

6468-489: The exploitation of mechanical reproduction for phonograph records , the Institute for Mechanical-Musical Rights LLC ( German : Anstalt für mechanisch-musikalische Rechte GmbH ; AMMRE ). In 1913, the Austrian Society of Authors, Composers, and Music Publishers ( German : Gesellschaft der Autoren, Komponisten und Musikverleger ; AKM ) entered the German market and opened a German branch office. In 1915,

6566-699: The form of intellectual property law , which is enshrined in the constitutions of European states. Although the concept of intellectual property had already been established in the 1866 constitution of the North German Confederation as well as in the 1871 Constitution of the German Empire , Article 14 of the current Grundgesetz ( German : Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany ) only generally addresses property rights, inheritance law, and expropriation, including

6664-567: The form of licenses . In Germany, for example, this is regulated through the "law concerning the exercise of author's rights" ( German : Urheberrechtswahrnehmungsgesetz ) of 9 September 1965. The core of this law is the obligation to administer (Article 6, German : Wahrnehmungszwang ) and the obligation to contract (Article 11, German : Abschlusszwang ). The former obligation means that collecting societies must prosecute all rights that have been transferred to them. The latter obligation means that they cannot refuse entry to any author (in

6762-471: The full members (2010: 64%), whose repertoire represents the lion's share of the listed works. The distribution of revenue and disbursement procedures are decided annually at the general assembly, which consists of approximately 3,000 full members as well as 64 delegates representing the associated and extraordinary members. The general assembly elects the 15 members of the board of directors (6 composers, 4 lyricists, 5 publishers). The board of directors appoints

6860-503: The interests of lyricists, screenwriters and novelists. It applied for becoming a copyright society in 2017 but is currently operating as a trade union representing its members. Recently an application for registration under S.33 was made by the Recorded Music Performance ltd which controls public performance and broadcasting rights of sound recordings of its member companies. RMPL has applied for registration as PPL

6958-617: The issue of intellectual property. By contrast, in the constitution of the free state of Bavaria —and also previously in Baden and Greater Hesse , which were formed before the Grundgesetz (1949)—the intellectual property of authors, inventors, and artists come under the direct protection of the state, which explicitly allows for the existence of collecting societies . Furthermore, collecting societies receive their legitimacy from German author's rights ( German : Urheberrecht ), which

7056-593: The licensing fee rates for sound recording media from 9.009% to 5.6% of the manufacturer's price. GEMA criticized this push as "an attempt by the German phonographic industry to solve their problems on the backs and at the expense of creative composers and lyricists." In 2005, the board of arbitration of the German Patent and Trademark Office in Munich decided in favor of GEMA, preventing the proposed licensing fee rate-reduction. Other arbitration processes attempted by

7154-547: The market. The five major PROs in the music industry in the US are ASCAP , SESAC , BMI , AllTrack , and SoundExchange . In the US copyright collectives are registered companies that act as agents of the owners of the copyright. The websites of the PROs have their Memorandum of association and Articles of association and their tariff policies. The validity of PROs was challenged in the 1979 anti-trust suit of Broadcast Music, Inc. v. CBS, Inc. in which CBS BMI and said that

7252-520: The most effective and lucrative music copyright administration systems. Hungary operates a legal monopoly. SIAE (English: Italian Society of Authors and Publishers, Italian: Società Italiana degli Autori ed Editori ) is the Italian copyright collecting agency. Founded in 1882 in the Kingdom of Italy , it is the monopolist intermediary between the authors of musical tracks and consumers, managing

7350-410: The music industry as it will ensure that licensing and royalty payments are transferred on a fair basis. The American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers [ASCAP] has direct or indirect connections with copyright societies in over 30 countries. Once it receives information regarding unauthorised use of copyrighted works, the affiliated foreign copyright society collects the royalty on behalf of

7448-521: The music they play, and music has been on the radio for many years. During the war, there were programmes like Workers Playtime and Music While You Work . Now, many radio stations have features about workplaces. If the PRS force people to switch their radios off then how are these stations going to survive? Music has to be heard before people go out and buy it. In March 2009, the on line video-sharing site YouTube removed all premium music videos for UK users, even those supplied by record labels , due to

7546-422: The mutual granting of rights; foreign collecting societies transfer to GEMA the exercise of performance, broadcast, and reproduction rights of their entire inventory within Germany, along with the collection of corresponding usage fees, and in return GEMA grants the same rights and duties to foreign counterparts holding corresponding legal positions in their own territories. In each case, a foreign society operates as

7644-451: The name PRS for Music. As of 2018 PRS has entered a joint venture with Phonographic Performance Limited (PPL) under a newly formed private company called PPL PRS Ltd with the aim of making it easier for their customers to obtain a music licence. The Performing Right Society was founded in 1914 by a group of music publishers, to protect the value of copyright and to help provide an income for composers, songwriters and music publishers. At

7742-548: The network of pubs, clubs and live music venues. Those honoured include Squeeze , Elton John , Pulp , Queen and UB40 . In May 2016, PRS for Music announced its 2015 financial results, which showed an 8.4% increase in distributions to its songwriter members. The figures for 2016 were announced in May 2017 showing that revenues increased by 10.1% and royalty payments to its members increased to £527.6 m (up 11.1%). The organisation reported record royalty distributions in 2017, with

7840-644: The requirement of maintaining a payout-level from GEMA above a certain minimum value. Until then, they belong to the status category of "extraordinary member," with limited voting rights (and usually a meagre share of fee revenues, ca. 4.8% in 2010). Other people, who are indeed authors but neither composers nor lyricists (nor publishers nor inheritors of authors), can also enter into a deed of assignment with GEMA; however, these authors cannot gain full membership, instead remaining so-called "associated members." The overwhelming majority of those represented by GEMA have no access to membership status as defined and protected under

7938-401: The right to exercise her/his own rights or to transfer these duties to another third party (e.g., a collecting society or performance rights organization ). The de facto situation remains in GEMA's favor, however, as all efforts to found a competing institution have thus far been hindered by the German Patent and Trademark Office , and the sole management of one's own authors' rights remains

8036-412: The same class of works’. This effectively creates a monopoly and mandates that only one copyright society can exist in a particular industry. This ensures concentration of bargaining power and equal terms of royalty in an industry. Copyright societies have to renew their registration under section 33 every five years and its registration can be cancelled at any time if the central government feels like it

8134-457: The tariffs decided by BMI were for blanket licenses and therefore amounted to price fixing. The court held in this case that the actions of PROs were not anti competitive as there was no bar on obtaining licenses from individual copyright holders. Digitisation and internet based music streaming services have majorly changed the music industry and the US copyright law has changed majorly to accommodate such innovation. Music Modernization Act (MMA)

8232-709: The time, PRS collected fees for live performance from sheet music . PRS was distinct from both the activities of the Mechanical-Copyright Protection Society which was founded in 1910, and the Phonographic Performance Limited (PPL) , founded in 1934 by Decca and EMI . The Mechanical-Copyright Protection Society began as Mecolico, the Mechanical Copyright Licenses Company, which was founded in 1910 in anticipation of

8330-722: The usage rights stemming from authors' rights (e.g., mechanical licensing , broadcast licensing , synchronization licensing ) for the musical works of those composers, lyricists, and publishers who are members in the organization. It is the only such institution in Germany and a member of BIEM and CISAC . Other collecting societies include the (AKM) Society of authors, composers and music publishers ( de ) in Austria and SUISA in Switzerland. As an "accredited profit-making association with legal capacity" ( German : rechtsfähiger wirtschaftlicher Verein ), GEMA's capacity to be

8428-642: The use of copyrighted works abroad, societies enter into MoUs or international licensing agreements with their foreign counterparts in the industry and exchange information regarding the use of copyrighted materials. Collecting societies can sell blanket licences, which grant the right to perform their catalogue for a period of time. Such a licence might for example provide a broadcaster with a single annual authorisation encompassing thousands of songs owned by thousands of composers, lyricists and publishers. The societies also sell individual licenses for users who reproduce and distribute music. For example, Apple must submit

8526-507: The valorization of internet presence through audio-branding involving the use of music. Since April 2003, GEMA offers access to its database of musical works on its website, including approximately 1.6 Million copyrighted musical works. All collective rights management societies operate on the basis of laws and ordinances. Within the European Community , these collecting societies derive their legitimacy from constitutional protections for intellectual property and intangible assets , in

8624-488: The value of music creators and education. The campaign was supported by acclaimed songwriters and composers including Jimmy Napes , Michael Price , Crispin Hunt, Gary Clark and Debbie Wiseman . The PRS for Music Heritage Award scheme launched in 2009 with the first award going to Blur . Ceremonial plaques are unveiled to honour the performance birthplaces of legendary bands, artists and songwriters - as well as recognising

8722-593: The while pretending to operate under a unified corporate name. This came to an end during the Third Reich with the Reich Law regarding the Intermediation of Musical Performance Rights ( German : Reichsgesetz über die Vermittlung von Musikaufführungsrechten ). The legislator responsible for this law, Joseph Goebbels , did so with the aim of bringing all collecting societies into line and granting them

8820-477: The works of all the authors dealing in that particular industry. The tariffs decided by copyright societies are based on the kind of event or venue of the licensee and usually allow the licensee to access the entire repertoire of works available with the copyright society. The royalty distributed to the owners is based on their market influence and demand for their works. Reduction of transaction costs and other benefits of collective management can be realised only when

8918-512: The yearly income must be at least €1,800 for four of the five years). There is an elevated minimum revenue for publishers, currently at €75,000 over five years (with a yearly minimum of €4,500 for four of those years). The purpose of GEMA is to collect royalty fees from the organisers of events where music protected by this organization is played as well as media manufacturers, publishers, and broadcasting stations. GEMA collected 850 million euros in copyright fees in 2008. Disbursements go largely to

9016-483: Was annexed into STAGMA in 1938. The Reichsmusikkammer (English: Reich Chamber of Music ), under the direction of then-president Richard Strauss, stipulated in its guidelines that, "non- Aryans are categorically not to be viewed as bearers and stewards of German cultural goods." This amounted to an occupational ban on the approximately 8000 Jews active in the Reichsmusikkammer. STAGMA was tightly enmeshed in

9114-515: Was brought into question, especially as it not clear what rights the buyer acquires by paying this sum. In an online petition initiated by Monika Bestle on 19 May 2003, artists and event-organizers demanded a revision of GEMA's regulations with respect to better transparency, adjusted payment methods and other critical points. The petition was signed by 106,575 citizens and remains under parliamentary review since 17 July 2009. From 2009 to 2016, many music videos on YouTube were not accessible from

9212-522: Was confirmed the new hub would be called 'ICE'. In February 2016, PRS for Music and PPL, the body who licenses the sound recording of a song, confirmed plans to create a new joint venture for public performance licensing. The new joint venture would focus on servicing all UK public performance licensing customers. The joint venture launched in 2018. In July 2015, PRS for Music launched a pro-creator campaign called Streamfair. The campaign focused on four areas, Copyright Legislation, Online Licensing, Promoting

9310-475: Was established in 2000 between five European collecting societies including the UK's PRS for Music, France's SACEM , and Germany's GEMA . The agreement allows each collecting society to collect royalties on behalf of members of the other collecting society, e.g. PRS for Music would collect money for German artists listed with GEMA, but to restrict licences to be sold only within the member organisation's home country. The European Commission decided in 2008 that

9408-483: Was previously registered as a copyright society under S.33 of the Copyright Act but now mentions on its website that it licenses and transfers copyrights under S.18 and S.30 and functions as a company registered under the Companies Act 2013 . PPL represents producers and record companies and is a major licensor of music to events and establishments. The ISRA and IPRS are registered copyright societies under S. 33 of

9506-530: Was signed by President Donald Trump on 11 October 2018 as the Orrin G. Hatch-Bob Goodlatte Music Modernization Act of 2018. The MMA streamlines the music licensing process in order to make it easier for copyright holders to get paid when their music is streamed online through services like Spotify, Pandora and Apple Music. Songwriters and artists will receive royalties on songs recorded before 1972 and this will ensure that songwriters are paid by streaming services with

9604-526: Was the chairman and general director from 1947 to 1989, to whom was dedicated the Erich Schulze Fountain in front of the GEMA headquarters in Munich. Starting in 1950, the chairman of the board of directors was Werner Egk . Both Schulze and Egk already occupied leading positions in STAGMA. Albrecht Dümling 's book, Musik hat ihren Wert (English: Music has its Value ) was published to mark

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