More copyright for European sound recordings will net performers a whopping $0.50/year
Glyn sez, "In response to a consultation on the European Commission's proposal to almost double the term of copyright protection on sound recordings, the Open Rights Group have responded that for the vast majority of performers the projected extra sales income resulting from term extension is likely to be meagre: from as little as 50¢ each year in the first ten years, to as "much" as €26.79 each year. That's because most of the gains (89.5%) will go to the top 20% of recording artists. Meanwhile the major labels will be dividing up millions in extra handouts every year."
Our submission shows that for the vast majority of performers the projected extra sales income resulting from term extension is likely to be meagre: from as little as 50¢ each year in the first ten years, to as “much” as €26.79 each year. That’s because most of the gains (89.5%) will go to the top 20% of recording artists. Meanwhile the major labels will be dividing up millions in extra handouts every year.Performers likely to get as little as 50¢ a year from increased term of copyright (Thanks, Glyn!)What’s more, performing artists will make no extra revenue from radio airplay and other income streams arising from so-called “secondary remuneration rights”, and may even make less. The Commission assumes that fees paid by users of recordings, e.g. broadcasters, will remain constant. That means the amount of earnings available to performers will not be any bigger - it will just be sliced more thinly and distributed longer to more rightsholders. Performers will not earn any more over their life time, and are likely to earn less, as money will be transferred from the living to the estates of the dead.
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50 eurocents doesn't translate to $0.50.
Abandon radio. Forget CD purchases. Torrent / Usenet your music and send a cheque straight to the artist.
Or, since that's unlikely, start supporting artists with their own distribution channels. Majority of music that is pushed by the big record companies is utter shit. The good artists seem to be left sitting in the closet until they get pissed off enough and do it themselves, anyway.
Bang on Jbang bang on.
Direct remuneration for pleasures received...unprompted. Doing this would also wrong-foot all those selfish economists setting gov policies too.
Not to be picky or anything, but the "50 cents" quoted in the story is almost certainly not 50 American cents, but 50 European cents. So it should be €0.50, no $0.50.
It might seem overly nit-picky, but hey, €0.50 is worth more than $0.50 after all :)
Meh, it's all about the long tail. Popular radio artists may feel the pain a bit, but not much.
It's about time the music industry adapts anyway.
This article is about the bottom 80%, not the "popular radio artists". They will be making a bit more (up to just over 900 euros per year, top end, on average) while the record companies will be taking in ten times that, per artist.
Really, the proposal referred to in the article is, in fact, lengthening the tail for the benefit of all artists - where each artist benefits proportionally (Some Artists are more equal than others?) based on, well, I didn't read the *whole* submission and don't really care to. Anyways, the gist of the proposal is that the tail be lengthened with respect to time, therefore "it's all about the long tail" is appropriate, but not in the way I think you intended it to read...
It is certainly time for the music industry to "adapt" - if by adapt you mean take what they have and go somewhere else. The middle is gone from their business model - there are only sound recording engineers and artists now - management needs can be met by individuals, and distribution is as cheap as you want it to be.
ive stoped listening to radio 4 years ago since i got my ipod, radio is dead! nobody that i know listens to it, its the same stupid worn out top 40 songs from yesteryear that play on kroq, kiss fm, the wave or any of the clear channel stations. for new or relevant music discoveries thats what last fm & the internet is for! besides most pop bands suck anyways... buy used music cds from amazon or FYE (for your entertainment stores) T LST Y GT T KP TH CD ND PPL THR THN R PRFT FRM TH PRCHS! oh and did i mention its totally LGL!
Copyright protection should be SHORTENED (To not more than fifteen years).When is "enough" really enough for those "artists"?
Has the public not payed enough already?
First it was 45's and LP's,then it was CD's and now it's digital downloads.And still we have to pay them AGAIN for music we have already payed for,if not via the media carriers (LP,CD and paying downloads)then via Radio and TV licences.
Why do they have keep being payed for the same stuff? ENOUGH ALREADY !!!
BadStoryDan: You should have read the whole article. It was quite short.
Lengthening the long tail beyond the life of the artist does nothing for living artists, and in all but a few cases is likelier to cause the work to fall into obscurity. Also:
Just to make it clearer, for "estates of the dead," read "the artist's second wife's third husband's stepchildren," where it doesn't mean "the holding company which controls the conglomerate which bought up the record company which made its recording artists sign away all rights to their work."Olaf 9000, enthusiasm is a fine thing, but please dont type all-caps.