Copyright Advisory Network

On April 17th, the Berklee College of Music (in Boston, MA) hosted “Envisioning 21st-Century Music Business Models,” part of a series of discussions at Berklee on the future of the recording industry. A standing room-only audience of primarily young men listened to music business executives and Marybeth Peters, U.S. Register of Copyrights.

Understanding music licensing and the collection and payment of royalties is not terribly simply for those not part of this business. Ms. Peters spoke a bit on the history of copyright and sound recordings, noting that sound recordings were not covered by federal copyright law until 1972. She positively did not discuss the status of recordings issued before 1972. They will not be covered by federal copyright until 2067, unless the law is revised.

New ways of generating revenue for the music business (oh, and for artists also), was the subject of this Berklee discussion. Someone mentioned Rhapsody, the online subscription music service that provides streaming access to a library of digital music. Albhy Galuten of Sony BMG Music Entertainment then spoke of a proposed larger and interoperable system being considered by Sony and Universal Music Group called Total Music. (Here is a CNET blog post on this possible venture). The initial goal of the project would seem to be to establish a subscription music service that would of course be an iTunes competitor. But Mr. Gahluten spoke of the interoperability of systems as key to the enterprise, with the goal of generating revenue from the sheer convenience of providing users the delivery and management of music via cell phone, iPod, laptop, home server, etc. A service aggregator such as Verizon was mentioned as theoretically capable of providing this integrated service.

Aside from the technical feat of the cross-platform provision of one’s digital music on a variety of devices, what about the licensing of the music? Discussion participant Susan Butler, Billboard’s legal correspondent, asked if a compulsory license would be required to do this, and asked how likely this would be to happen. Possibly some other form of automatic licensing by a performing rights or collecting agency could serve. Marybeth Peters asked who would pay to make the Harry Fox Agency more efficient (sufficiently efficient, that is, to actually successfully manage licensing for a venture like Total Music).

For the outside observer, a “take-away” from the Berklee discussion was the IMPRESSION that portions of the music business are prepared to let people listen to as much music as they wish, at any time, on as many devices as they wish, in exchange for a reasonable, regular fee. In truth though, listeners will have to wait and see what sort of digital rights management would be employed by a business like Total Music and what choices listeners will have then.

[Hopefully, this post is not too far afield from copyright and librarians].

klaudia52 Digital Rights Management, Technology