Re: Performers' Right in Sound Recordings

From: David McConville <id[_at_]calypso-2.oit.unc.edu>
Date: Thu, 15 Dec 1994 16:37:39 -0500 (EST)

On Thu, 15 Dec 1994, Scott Fedewa wrote:

>

> As I understand it (and speaking from an applied record business
> perspective as opposed to a theoretical legal perspective) a true
> performance right would introduce a new source of revenue to musicians
> who perform on a recording. Each time that recording was played an
> ASCAP/BMI/SESAC-type organization would then have the job of funnelling
> the pennies back to those musicians who performed on that particular
> recording of the tune, just as they currently channel royalties back
> to the writers/composers of songs which are played ("performed") in
> public. As Jonathan Franklin pointed out earlier, it is this
> additional expense which the NAB claims would cripple its radio
> broadcasting membership's businesses.

The Working Group on Intellectual Property's proposal was that Congress "add to the exclusive rights of a copyright owner in a sound recording the right to perform or authorize the performance of the sound recording by 'digital transmission.'" It was specified in the proposal that this would NOT apply to analog transmission...an odd double-standard that puts digital broadcasters in a very uncomfortable position.

Any ideas on this? I'm quite disturbed by these proposals since we recently started broadcasting the first 24/7 radio station on the net <http://sunsite.unc.edu/wxyc/>. Needless to say, this kind of legal bias would suppress the potentials of digital transmissions to the point of virtual uselessness...

David McConville                          <id[_at_]calypso-2.oit.unc.edu> 
UNC Office for Information Technology     (919) 962-5647
SunSITE Workstation Development Group     http://sunsite.unc.edu/id/

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Received on Thu Dec 15 1994 - 21:52:28 GMT