Presented at the Rutgers University Colloquium "Copyright Beyond Print", Feb 12, 2014

1. Music and Copyright: A Hot, Stinking Mess
Aram Sinnreich, Ph.D.
Rutgers University School of Communication & Information
Copyright Beyond Print
MLIS Colloquium
Feb 12, 2014
This text is freely available under a Creative Commons 3.0
Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike license.

2. 1.
The Basics

3. Music Copyright Timeline
Phono
Copyright
Copyright
for US
composers
Proto-© for
English
music
publishers
DMCA
Type of copyright
1527
1790
1831
American ©
conferred on
authors but
NOT composers
1790:
14 years
(+14)
1889
Public
Performances
1831:
28 years
(+14)
1909
1972
Mechanical
reproduction
1909:
28 years
(+28)
Term of copyright
1976
1998
Synch
rights
1976:
Life + 50
1998:
Life + 70

4. Music and Copyright in the Recording Era
Retail
Radio
Artists/Labels
“Masters Rights”
• Retailers pay
wholesale to labels
• Labels pay royalties
to artists
• Broadcasters do NOT
pay performance
royalties on masters
• Promotion and “payola”
Composers &
Publishers
“Publishing Rights”
• Retailers pay
wholesale to labels
• Labels pay “mechanical”
royalties to publishers
• Publishers pay
composers
• Broadcasters pay
royalties to PROs
(e.g. BMI)
• PROs pay publishers and
composers

5. 2.
Copyright and Corporate Power

6. Recording Contracts = Awesome
1. Transfer of ownership
2. “Controlled composition” clause
 effective royalties cut by 25%
3. “Net sales” = 85%
4. Container charge = 25% deduction
5. “New tech” = 20% deduction (e.g. CD, MP3)
6. Cross-collateralization
7. Recoupment
RIAA: <10% of albums recoup label expenses

7. Kenny Rogers v. Capitol Records
Source: Attorney Chris Taylor

8. Recording Contracts = Awesome, Take 2
• Taking two years to respond to an audit request.
• Refusing to account for, or pay a share of, P2P fees.
• Holding over $76,000 in unprocessed royalties in a “suspense file” with no apparent right
or cause.
• Non-payment of royalties from sales of music via record clubs.
• Non-payment of royalties on “free goods” distributed overseas, in violation of Rogers’
contract.
• Inconsistent documentation, “in that some accounts showed earnings for certain albums in
certain periods, but other accounts . . . failed to reflect those earnings.”
• Withholding foreign taxes even though they were offset by tax credits.
• Incorrect royalty rate calculation in some foreign territories.
• Charging over $12,000 to Rogers without any explanation of those charges.
• Charging Rogers 100% of video production costs, even though his contract stipulated a
50% charge.
• Failing to account for or pay royalties based on radio performance royalties.
• Paying Rogers a far lower royalty than his contract required for “non-disc records” such as
digital downloads and ringtones.
• Failing to remedy any of these oversights financially once the audit had revealed them.
• While terrestrial radio in the US is not required to pay a royalty to record labels, this is not
the case in many foreign countries.

9. Music Copyright: Fun for Startups, Too!
“Why license them and
make a little, when you
can sue them and make
a lot?”
- Larry Kenswil
(paraphrasing UMG
legal department)

10. 3.
Copyright and Music Aesthetics

11. Some Music Uses Don’t Require Permission…
Cover Songs
Public Performances
Quotation
Parody

12. And Some Do…
Sampling
Video Games
Movies/TV
Streaming On-Demand

13. 4.
Digital Mayhem

14. Music Has Gone From This…

15. …To This.

16. Old Definitions Have No Value
Compulsory
Programmed
(Radio)
??????????????????
Contractual
On-Demand
(Retail)

17. Old Products and Formats Have No Value

18. Old Products and Formats Have No Value

19. It’s Taken the Industry 15 Years…
40,000 Customers Sued
Bad Laws & Copyfight
Hundreds of Startups Dead
Massive Bad Will

20. …But Change is Slowly Coming
Newer Business Models
Thriving Indie Markets
Newer Copyright Models
Support for Change in D.C.

21. We’re Not Out of the Woods Yet

22. Thank you.
Aram Sinnreich, Ph.D.
sinn@rutgers.edu
Books by Aram Sinnreich
Mashed Up (2010)
www.mashed-up.com
The Piracy Crusade (2013)
www.piracycrusade.com