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August 10, 2009
WIPO pilot program empowers intellectual property ownership for traditional knowledge in developing nations
The Recording Academy actively represents the music community on such issues as intellectual property rights, music piracy, archiving and preservation, and censorship concerns. In pursuing its commitment to addressing these and other issues, The Recording Academy undertakes a variety of national initiatives. ArtsWatch is a key part of an agenda aimed at raising public awareness of and support for the rights of artists. For past columns, visit the ArtsWatch archive. To become more involved, visit Advocacy Action @ GRAMMY.com and sign up for Advocacy Action E-lerts.
GRAMMY.com
Philip Merrill
Late last month 200 members of the Maasai tribe assembled beneath an acacia tree in Kenya as the World Intellectual Property Organization presented a field recording kit valued at $11,000 including a digital audio recorder, laptop computer and digital camera. (link) The ceremony was the first event of its kind for a pilot program that launched in September 2008 in conjunction with the Library of Congress' American Folklife Center and Duke University's Center for Documentary Studies, which provided training for two Maasai archivists in the interim. WIPO's ambitious development agenda improves the worldwide status of intellectual property by empowering indigenous communities to develop their own digital databases of freshly created, copyright-protected works that embody their societies' traditional knowledge. (link)
On Aug. 4 the members of the Senate Judiciary Committee were sympathetic to the arguments of intellectual property owners — including Recording Academy Los Angeles Chapter Governor Sheila E speaking on behalf of the musicFIRST Coalition — at a hearing to consider S. 379 the Performance Rights Act. (link) Broadcasters argued their financial circumstances would make it a hardship to compensate recording artists, but committee members suggested that was not a reason to avoid negotiations, that the bill could be amended to take financial hardship into account, and offered that terrestrial broadcasters would not necessarily have to match the royalty rates agreed to by Internet radio for compensating performers. Former Register of Copyrights Ralph Oman said, "The broadcasters' exemption runs counter to all other rules of business, and it runs counter to our legal system.... This lack of a public performance right for sound recordings is a huge international embarrassment for the United States, and it costs us millions of dollars a year in lost revenues in foreign markets." Submitting written testimony, the current Register of Copyrights Marybeth Peters said, "I believe that this legislation is long overdue and I urge the committee to approve it." (link)
SoundExchange announced three new webcasting agreements — with Sirius-XM, College Broadcasters Inc., and the National Religious Broadcasters Music License Committee — on July 31 and teased a mysterious fourth agreement with details to be revealed soon. (link) The agreements will be in effect through 2015 and were reached under the Webcaster Settlement Act of 2009 (link) extending the deadline for negotiation of more lenient alternatives to the rates and conditions set by the Copyright Royalty Board. For example, college and religious webcasters are able to qualify for relaxed record-keeping requirements by meeting conditions suited to the unique needs of these two distinct groups. SoundExchange General Counsel Michael Huppe said, "SoundExchange is always looking for creative business solutions, as long as they are also fair to the creators of the music."
On July 31 Rep. Edward Markey (D-Mass.) and co-sponsor Rep. Anna Eshoo (D-Calif.) introduced H.R. 3458, the Internet Freedom Preservation Act of 2009. The latest in what some could consider a series of Net neutrality bills, this legislation vests the Federal Communications Commission with additional enforcement powers to systematically crack down on certain kinds of network management by Internet service providers. (link) Markey introduced a similar bill last year during the previous Congress. (link) As expected, consumer advocates Free Press and Public Knowledge admire Markey's latest and ISPs consider it unnecessary and excessive regulation. One observer speculated that the reason Rep. Rick Boucher (D-Va.) is not taking sides in favor of Markey's bill is because both the President and his new FCC Chairman favor Net neutrality and are unlikely to look the other way if ISPs unfairly restrict service. (link)
The Orchard announced a noteworthy innovation on Aug. 4 to the online dashboard they make available to their clients — apps, like on Facebook, only targeted to the special needs of music rights owners. (link) By opening up the back end of their dashboard through an Application Programming Interface, leading marketing and sales partners are able to offer their tools to Orchard's clients as add-ons to the underlying platform. Orchard President/CEO Greg Scholl said, "In order to serve our clients, I think we need to give them access to a broad range of companies that are innovating on the frontier... Particularly around direct-to-consumer, and understanding the analytics of social media. I think there will be a tremendous amount of innovation and evolution..." (link)
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