Copyright Office announces music licensing study

[More Advice]

Anyone who licenses music may want to make their voice heard.

http://www.lexology.com/library/detail.aspx?g=9b6f1d5b-715b-4ef3-b510-5e7cf32a8500

http://www.copyright.gov/fedreg/2014/79fr14739.pdf

Copyright Office
[Docket No. 2014-03]
Music Licensing Study: Notice and
Request for Public Comment
AGENCY
:
Copyright Office, Library of
Congress.
ACTION
:
Notice of Inquiry.
SUMMARY
:
The United States Copyright
Office announces the initiation of a
study to evaluate the effectiveness of
existing methods of licensing music. To
aid this effort, the Office is seeking
public input on this topic. The Office
will use the information it gathers to
report to Congress. Congress is currently
conducting a review of the U.S.
Copyright Act, 17 U.S.C. 101
et seq.,
to
evaluate potential revisions of the law
in light of technological and other
developments that impact the creation,
dissemination, and use of copyrighted
works.
DATES
:
Written comments are due on or
before May 16, 2014. The Office will be
announcing one or more public
meetings to address music licensing
issues, to take place after written
comments are received, by separate
notice in the future.
ADDRESSES
:
All comments shall be
submitted electronically. A comment
page containing a comment form is
posted on the Office Web site at
http://www.copyright.gov/docs/
musiclicensingstudy
. The Web site
interface requires commenting parties to
complete a form specifying their name
and organization, as applicable, and to
upload comments as an attachment via
a browser button. To meet accessibility
standards, commenting parties must
upload comments in a single file not to
exceed six megabytes (MB) in one of the
following formats: The Portable

[MichaelL]

Thank you for posting this More Advice. I would advise caution before anyone assumes that the issues surrounding retitling will be resolved in the near future. The library of Congress and then Congress itself, both move very slowly.

For example, as we know, the high cost of pursuing litigation in the event of infringement prevents many composers from pursuing such claims. In March 2006 the Copyright Office began looking at the possibility of establishing a method of pursuing “small claims.”

This link will show you what has occurred since 2006 . http://www.copyright.gov/docs/smallclaims/

After 5 years, the first Notice of Inquiry was issued in 2011. After several subsequent Notices of Inquiry, a 200 page report and recommendation to Congress was issued in September 2013. Changes in the the copyright law, require legislation and, to date, nothing has happened. SO, here we are 8 years into the process, and nothing has changed.

With respect to the links posted by MA, this is the first step in a long journey. There could be several more inquiries over a number of years, much debate by lobbyists for both sides, then a long report, after which someone must introduce a Bill proposing legislation, which will be debated in the House and the Senate (where everyone always agrees…HA!)

Changes like the Copyright Term Extension Act, introduced by the late Sonny Bono and the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, happen infrequently and over long periods of time.

I recall a thread several years ago in which I said that technology may solve the problem before Congress does. Technology advances far faster than Congress. Almost everything does.The odds are still with technology.

[More Advice]

I think the main issue that I get after reading these docs is this:

Is a stream a “public performance”…like a broadcast of a track or a track playing in a club or restaurant or arena, on TV and radio, etc.?

I say yes it is. We all should write in and say it is as it will hopefully increase royalties from streaming services. I listen to all new music on Spotify for free now. I will never buy a CD ever again for the rest of my life, nor an mp3 from I tunes. Why should I it is free on YOUTUBE, Spotify, and Pandora. We need more royalties from Streaming. So everyone at least write that note to Congress.

[Author]

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