Washington, D.C.’s James Madison Memorial Building, which houses the U.S. Copyright Office. Photo Credit: UpstateNYer
Is it time for a public performance overhaul? Members of Congress expressed transparency concerns last year, and the Copyright Office has now launched an official inquiry.
The Copyright Office formally disclosed the notice of inquiry today, just shy of five months after Representatives Scott Fitzgerald, Jim Jordan, and Darrell Issa asked Register of Copyrights Shira Perlmutter to “examine current practices involving licensing fees paid to performing rights organizations” (PROs).
The House Judiciary Committee members’ letter, we reported at the time, touched on the possible “proliferation of PROs” as well as the accuracy with which public performances register and see the corresponding royalties reach the appropriate parties.
On the “proliferation” front, ASCAP and its for-profit rival BMI count as consent-decree-free competitors GMR, SESAC, and AllTrack.
Writing with small businesses (bars and restaurants chief among them) in mind, the lawmakers emphasized the purported “increased costs and burdens imposed on licensees for paying an ever-increasing number of PROs.”
“Thus,” the representatives relayed in part, “licensees are concerned that the proliferation of PROs represents an ever-present danger of infringement allegations and potential litigation risk from new and unknown sources.”
And on the rightsholder side, the lawmakers inquired about “potential recommendations for policymakers” and more regarding royalty-calculation improvements.
(Across the pond, Audoo is popularizing the Audio Meter, a device that simply plugs into any standard outlet and identifies establishments’ actual music usages. However, to the detriment of all but the biggest players, non-digital public performances in the U.S. and elsewhere are still mainly calculated via not-so-accurate estimates and extrapolations.)
“For example,” the lawmakers penned, “it is difficult to determine how accurately lesser known and independent artists as well as smaller publishers are being compensated compared to widely popular artists and major publishers.”
Enter the Copyright Office’s aforementioned inquiry, which has set an April 11th deadline for initial public comments.
After that, follow-up responses will be due by May 27th, the Copyright Office indicated. Of course, the PROs themselves will weigh in as part of the inquiry, which has already drawn support from the MIC Coalition.
In a statement, that organization, which counts as members the National Restaurant Association, the National Association of Broadcasters, and many others, applauded the inquiry and urged “much-needed improvements.”
“The continued proliferation of PROs creates growing challenges for businesses of all sizes,” the MIC Coalition proceeded, “further complicating an already complex licensing system.
“By launching this inquiry, the Copyright Office can drive much-needed improvements to the music licensing marketplace by helping provide increased transparency and competition. Addressing this fragmentation will help business owners nationwide and create a fair and more efficient music licensing system for everyone.”