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Copyrights can either be licensed or assigned by the owner of the copyright. A copyright collective is a non-governmental body created by copyright law or private agreement which licenses copyrighted works on behalf of the authors and engages in collective rights management. Copyright societies track all the events and venues where copyrighted works are used and ensure that the copyright holders listed with the society are remunerated for such usage. The copyright society publishes its own tariff scheme on its websites and collects a nominal administrative fee on every transaction.
A performance rights organisation (PRO), also known as a performing rights society, provides intermediary functions, particularly collection of royalties, between copyright holders and parties who wish to use copyrighted works publicly in locations such as shopping and dining venues. Legal consumer purchase of works, such as buying CDs from a music store, confer private performance rights. PROs usually only collect royalties when use of a work is incidental to an organisation's purpose. Royalties for works essential to an organisation's purpose, such as theaters and radio, are usually negotiated directly with the rights holder. The interest of the organisations varies: many have the sole focus of musical works, while others may also encompass works and authors for audiovisual, drama, literature, or the visual arts.
The Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada (SOCAN) is a Canadian performance rights organization that represents the performing rights of more than 175,000 songwriters, composers and music publishers. The organization collects license fees through a music licensing program approved by the Copyright Board of Canada.
PRS for Music Limited is a British music copyright collective, made up of two collection societies: the Mechanical-Copyright Protection Society (MCPS) and the Performing Right Society (PRS). It undertakes collective rights management for musical works on behalf of its 160,000 members. PRS for Music was formed in 1997 following the MCPS-PRS Alliance. In 2009, PRS and MCPS-PRS Alliance realigned their brands and became PRS for Music.
A royalty payment is a payment made by one party to another that owns a particular asset, for the right to ongoing use of that asset. Royalties are typically agreed upon as a percentage of gross or net revenues derived from the use of an asset or a fixed price per unit sold of an item of such, but there are also other modes and metrics of compensation. A royalty interest is the right to collect a stream of future royalty payments.
APRA AMCOS consists of Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA) and Australasian Mechanical Copyright Owners Society (AMCOS), both copyright management organisations or copyright collectives which jointly represent over 100,000 songwriters, composers and music publishers in Australia and New Zealand. The two organisations work together to license public performances and administer performance, communication and reproduction rights on behalf of their members, who are creators of musical works, aiming to ensure fair payments to members and to defend their rights under the Australian Copyright Act (1968).
The International Confederation of Societies of Authors and Composers is an international non-governmental, not-for-profit organisation that aims to protect the rights and promote the interests of creators worldwide. It advocates for strong legal protection of copyright and authors' rights. It is the world's largest international network of authors' societies, also known as Collective Management Organisations (CMOs), copyright / royalty collection societies, collecting societies, or Performing Rights Organisations (PROs).
Phonographic Performance Limited (PPL) is a British music copyright collective. It is a private limited company that is registered in the UK. PPL was founded by Decca Records and EMI and incorporated on 12 May 1934, and undertakes collective rights management of sound recordings on behalf of its record-company members, and distributes the fees collected to both its record company members and performer members. As of 2022, PPL collected royalties for over 140,000 performers and recording rightsholders.
The Gesellschaft für musikalische Aufführungs- und mechanische Vervielfältigungsrechte is a government-mandated collecting society and performance rights organization based in Germany, with administrative offices in Berlin and Munich. GEMA represents the usage rights stemming from authors' rights for the musical works of those composers, lyricists, and publishers who are members in the organization. It is the only such institution in Germany and a member of BIEM and CISAC. Other collecting societies include the (AKM) Society of authors, composers and music publishers in Austria and SUISA in Switzerland.
Hubert Mbuku Nakitare, commonly known by his stage name Nonini, is a Kenyan rapper and former radio presenter. He is often referred to as the Godfather because he is very well known.
The Japanese Society for Rights of Authors, Composers and Publishers, often referred to as JASRAC, is a Japanese copyright collection society. It was founded in 1939 as a nonprofit organization, and is the largest musical copyright administration society in Japan.
SoundExchange is an American non-profit collective rights management organization founded in 2003. It is the sole organization designated by the U.S. Congress to collect and distribute digital performance royalties for sound recordings. It pays featured and non-featured artists and master rights owners for the non-interactive use of sound recordings under the statutory licenses set forth in 17 U.S.C. § 112 and 17 U.S.C. § 114. As of 2023, the company serves a community of over 650,000 creators worldwide, offering various products and services.
The Irish Music Rights Organisation (IMRO) is a national organisation that administers the performing right in copyright music in Ireland on behalf of its members and on behalf of the songwriters, composers and music publishers of the international overseas societies that are affiliated to it. At present IMRO has approximately 11,000 songwriter, composer and music publisher members.
Downtown Music Holdings (Downtown) is the world's largest and leading music services platform modernizing and transforming the global music ecosystem for rights holders worldwide.
The blocking of YouTube videos in Germany was part of a former dispute between the video sharing platform YouTube and the Gesellschaft für musikalische Aufführungs- und mechanische Vervielfältigungsrechte, a performance rights organization in Germany.
The Southern African Music Rights Organisation (SAMRO), is a copyright asset management society. It was established by the South African Copyright Act, and aims to protect the intellectual property of music creators by licensing music users, collecting licence fees and distributing royalties to music creators. SAMRO represents more than 15,000 Southern African music composers, lyricists/authors and music publishers. The organisation administers performing rights.
The Society of Authors, Composers and Music Publishers in Israel, known by the acronym ACUM, is a non-profit copyright collective which engages in collective rights management for authors, poets, lyricists, composers, arrangers, and music publishers in Israel. As a member of the International Confederation of Societies of Authors and Composers (CISAC), ACUM is affiliated with more than 100 similar rights organizations around the world, with which it engages in reciprocal royalty collection agreements. It also holds an annual prize ceremony which honors authors and musicians in many categories, including lifetime achievement.
Elani is a Kenyan African pop group from Nairobi. It consists of three members; Wambui Ngugi, Brian Chweya and Maureen Kunga. The trio released their debut single"Jana Usiku" in November 2013 that became a great success, paving way for their subsequent singles. In 2014, the trio released numerous singles in the making of their debut album Barua ya Dunia.
Ghana Music Rights Organization (GHAMRO) is a royalties collection agency within Ghana, that represents the rights of music copyright holders. It was created under section 49 of the Copyright Law, Act 690 of 2005. The agency collects royalties for all rights owners in Ghana. Before 2005, that function had been operated by the Copyright Society of Ghana. The organization has faced regular criticism about its transparency and engagement of stakeholders. As of 2018, the organization was led by Rex Omar. Abraham Adjatey, commonly known as 'Agya Abraham' is currently the CEO of the organization.
References
- ↑ Abiud Ochieng, "Kenyan Musicians Sue Copyright Bodies over Royalties", Daily Nation, July 31, 2015, via AllAfrica Global Media.
- ↑ Dominic Wabala, "Kenya: Copyright Board Accuses Music Society of Spending Artistes' Cash", The Star, Aug. 26, 2015, distributed by AllAfrica Global Media.
- ↑ Official Gazette, Notice 5093, May 6, 2011.
