Briffa and IVCA Seminar - Rights Ownership and Clearance (Music)
11 November 2008
Peter Mason
The most exciting element of the evening was the excellent mix of music users and music providers who made both the seminar and the discussion before and after so interesting. I would like to thank everyone who came along and particularly those who contributed with questions, answers and discussions.
I think a number of the attendees were a little surprised at the complex and potentially problematic nature of intellectual property rights in music. An example of this would be obtaining the rights to capture a piece of music and use it as part of a corporate film when filming a live corporate event featuring the music. For music users feeling a little overwhelmed I would offer some words of comfort. If you get your standard client contracts sorted out then this can relieve a lot of the pressure, provide a framework for thinking about the rights in each situation and stop you having to re-invent the wheel for every client and event.
I was impressed that most people seemed to have grasped to some extent the differences between the rights in the composition, the rights in the recording and performer’s rights. I think that grasping the difference between the different restricted rights and the different licensed uses was perhaps a little trickier. I was grateful to music professionals at the seminar for providing some context and explanation of how the licences work in practice.
The most common request that I received after the seminar was for contact details for experts or agencies who can help a company to clear the rights to commercial tracks. Such people are of course very useful, but I would advise anyone considering using them to approach them early on at the budgeting stage, as the fees can be substantial for many production companies.
I have already received enquiries and requests for assistance from people who attended the seminar. If you would like to speak to me then please do get in touch.
