Music Contract Negotiations and Publishing - Term Paper Example

HOW PUBLISHERS HAVE REALISED THEIR POTENTIAL AGAINST A CHANGING BACKGROUND How Publishers have realised their Potential against a Changing Background Course Instructor Date How Publishers have realised their Potential against a Changing Background Introduction As new technologies, internet, and digital uses reinvent and expand the way in which people listen, utilise, and purchase music, the music industry will and has continued undergoing tremendous changes. The music business has evolved from an era of piano copies as well as performance rights to the use of phonorecords, television, radio, DVDs, MTV, internet, and increased digital prospects. The players have changed as well as the economic models under which they base their expertise. The creation, protection, unearthing, exploitation, and the resultant income of a song have been the main focus of the publishers. Music publishers have diverse roles such as working on a creative entity with the songwriters in composing of new songs, enforcing as well as protecting copyrights, seeking licensees for the song, entering into arrangements with regard to licensing, and collecting as well as disbursing the income among others. Just as the songwriters, copyright laws, and collecting societies have changed, advancements in technology has changed ways in which music publishers operate. It has led to enlargement of potential sources of profit, making the industry lucrative and at the same time complex (Biederman 2007). Therefore, this essay discusses in length on the role of music publishers, the history as well as the changes in the music publishing industry, and how publishers can realize their future potential. The Role of Music Publishers Music publishers play an essential role in ensuring that the career of songwriters is successful. Whether or not songwriters are establishing their name or developing talents, publishers are invaluable to them since they guarantee that they are protected and their songs are not exploited. To some extent, music publishers facilitate earning prospects for songwriters and artists whose professions are not lucrative. Although most of the artists do not have ownership rights, one of the key components in the relationship between publishers and songwriters is the division as far as copyright ownership is concerned. This means that the more services the publisher offers such as licensing and being creative, the more ownership they have. Over the years, music publishers have made tremendous improvement in the music industry. They ensure successful synch licensing, demo recording and exemplary creativity. For instant, the Kobalt music Group is an independent publisher that has advanced technological systems that has redefined the industry. Although it does not have ownership of copyrights, it incorporates innovative elements in the services it provides to its clients. It also offers royalty advances to its clients on weekly bases as opposed to the semi annually or quarterly as it was in the traditional publishing model (Scott 2011). The music publishers exploit, collect, and administer royalties for their copyright properties. With regard to administration, they file a copyright notice to the copyright office, collect royalties, issue licences, pay writers, and share the proceeds. On the same note, exploitation entails getting the artists to record their ownership copyrights and making sure they are comfortable in television, films, commercials, and radio. The creative music publishers work with songwriters and assist them to improve their output and craft. They also persuade them to record the copyright material, promote their reputation, pitch songs, and help the writers to fund demos. They also develop songwriters as recording artists, and offer career advice among others. They control different rights such as print. For instance, traditionally, publishers used to provide sheet music of their copyright. This was complex since it required the printing of copyrights and maintenance of inventories based on the instrumentation. Today, such printing is rare though it is likely to see publishers issuing printed folios. With the modern technology, publishers are able to make digital versions and sell them to online users, using Adobe Acrobat or MIDI files. Other rights that they control include public performance whereby rights societies such as the ASCAP and BMI collect their royalties for live performance locations such as hotels or nightclubs on behalf of the publishers. They also control the mechanical and synchronisation rights (Gammons 2011, pp. 189-191). Music Publishing History and Changes The music industry and publishing has undergone a myriad of transformation from the 1950s to the modern days of technological advancement. There are numerous changes in technology that have changed ways in which music publishers and the industry operates. In the past, formal compositions as well as printing of music used to take place in churches and aristocracies. As time went by, composers as well as performers started to seek for commercial opportunities that would enable them to market their music in live studios. The modern industry emerged during the 19th century, in a time when numerous records supplemented the sheet music, which was one of the greatest players. There were various sheet- artist publishers who dominated the industry and by 1980s, there were a number of recording firms such as CBS, WEA, MCA, EMI, and PolyGram. It was a time when the term ‘recording industry’ was at its peak (Biederman 2007). In the last 25 years, the industry has had drastic changes due to advancements in technology. The digital distribution has led to the drop of recorded songs and live music has heightened. Today, one of the largest music retailers is digital such as the Apple Inc.’s iTunes Store. The 21st century saw a rise of digitally streamed and downloaded music, although most of it was illegally downloaded. Consequently, consumers had a wide access to music and spent less on the traditional recorded music. In the US, revenues dropped from $14.6 billion in the year 1999 to roughly $6.3 billion in 2009. Globally, the sale of CDs fell to $15.9 billion in the year 2010 from $36.9 in 2000 (Jeffrey 2000, pp. 104-105). In an attempt to respond to the increased illegal download and sharing of music, there were aggressive legal actions. For example, in the year 2000, Napster was shut down and those who participated faced legal suits (Biederman 2007). The internet has created different kinds of publishers who connect audiences and works. It has become possible to publish content without necessarily engaging with other parts of the process; hence, changing the power relationship that is there between investors, publishers, and creators. Publishers have become common and they are everywhere just as in the traditional times when they outsourced the main functions. There are a different set of publishers today such as Google making it easy for the songwriters and artists to have their work online (Braheny 2006). Technology has indeed changed ways in which the music publishers operate their business. There have been increased sources of income and the industry has become more complex. Most of the technological innovations that have affected the entertainment industry such as videocassettes, cable television interactive media, CD-ROMS, Itunes, ring tones, pay-per-view, online music, compact discs, as well as other digital formats such as juke boxes that replaced the conventional jukeboxes have expanded the music publishing industry. There have been new outlets as well as greater usage of music, making it possible for the publishers to make more profit and realize new potentials and avenues to air their talents. For example, in a report that was published in the year 2004, the NMPA affirmed that in 2001, global music publishing revenues were more than $6.63 billion (Biederman 2007, pp. 634-636). Technological developments also present business and legal challenges to the publishing firms. As producers and musicians found modern means of recording through the use of digital sampling or existing recordings, record labels and publishers were presented with a question on when such form of sampling constituted a copy of the existing composition, requiring a license or poses a possibility of an infringement. There are also issues with regard to the appropriate fees, infringement damages, claims of copyright ownership, and legal suits among others. For instance, in the case of Grand Upright Music Ltd vs. Warner Bros. Records, Inc, there were potential problems that resulted from leasing a record that had uncleared samples. With technology advancement and changes in copyright law, publishers are faced with challenges as courts have diverse interpretations on whether a sample licence is necessary; hence, they have seen a need to hire professional attorneys to present them in case of a suit (Biederman 2007) Publishers have changed the way in which they conduct their businesses despite the fact that they have numerous opportunities to make profit. For instance, ring tones have become a source of revenue for the music publishers though they have raised business and legal issues that continue to be highly debated. It is unclear on the person who has the right to license the composition of a ring tone, the fee, and the terms of licence. Consequently, there is a high likelihood of having conflicts and disputes since the publisher, the songwriters, the recording company, and the collecting societies have claimed legal rights to collect and licence the ring tones. Therefore, the relationship between the publishers and the artists has been heavily affected. The publishers have had to trade carefully to avoid legal suits that might emerge as a result of infringement (Biederman 2007). On the same note, with the modern technology, publishers have had to learn the rules of engagement in order to connect with the consumers or the audience and ensure they learn new trends; hence, maximise their profits. Consequently, when they learn on the needs of the consumers and fulfil them, they are able to collect revenues from sources such as public performance, print rights, reproduction of songs using digital downloads, and synchronisation of music (kasaras 2002; Braheny 2006). Another massive transformation has been the gradual progress towards ensuring that the songwriters have more influence and power and not necessarily the publishing firms, which used to have more control. In the past, there was R&B as well as rock musicians who could sell their copyrights to their specific labels for approximately $250 per every song. This means that they would not only assign the publishing but also the songwriter’s share. Some of the publishing firms used to own the hit song of a renown artist, keeping 100% of the royalties; hence, failing to pay the writer. Subsequently, as time went by, there were a few changes since songwriters would maintain their share though they would split the royalties with the music publisher. During the 1980s, the songwriters as well as their representative attorneys were assertive and developed a standard deal for publishing whereby the songwriters not only received their share but also half of what the publisher was earning. In that case, royalties were split 75/25, favouring the songwriter. The standard has remained until today and there is always room for negotiation. For example, if an artist or a writer has a bargaining leverage, then, they can go ahead and negotiate for a reversion clause, meaning that the copyrights are reverted to the writer after a certain period in case the deal is lucrative to the parties. This has indeed changed how publishers relate with the writers since most of the deals are in their favour, yet, the music publishers pay an immense advance when signing with a recording firm (Pitt 2010, pp. 89-90). There are various reasons why the publishing firms pay hefty advances to the songwriters, considering that the rates of mechanical royalties have quadrupled from the traditional two cents to eight cents per every sold unit. Moreover, most of the music conglomerates such as the Time-Warner, Universal, and Sony are focused on getting valuable song properties to create a strong synergy between the divisions of entertainment as well as build more equity in case they sell their division. Unlike in the past, the publishers value the songwriters to create a competitive environment. Nevertheless, there is a flip side to this, considering that for every hit songwriter, the publishers are eager to sign them, yet, there are a large number of aspiring writers who want to have their songs heard. Therefore, as much as the songwriters are at pressure to ensure they are not dropped, the publishers face the same challenge since they are likely to put their professions at jeopardy for offering the writers a massive advance (Braheny 2006, pp. 170-172.). The songwriters are not the only people who have undergone massive changes in the past 25 years. The collecting societies have had their share of transformation that has changed ways in which publishers operate and protect copyright. Collecting society is defined as an entity that is authorised by owners of copyright to use copyrights commercially. The right holders entrust the collecting society to monitor their work since it is complex for them to do so. They have became indispensable with regard to copyright system from the 20th century and their main role was to collect high as well as low volume royalties that stemmed from public performance and broadcasting creative works. Today, due to the growing relevance and importance of technology and internet with regard to sale as well as the distribution of music, the collective rights societies are now facing immense challenges unlike before. The internet has introduced transnational and modern distribution channels, making it hard for the societies to come to an agreement concerning copyrighted music that has been embedded in the videos. For instance, GEMA, which is a collecting society, has been in conflict with YouTube from the year 2009 due to infringement of copyright. The collecting society was somewhat successful after the chamber of copyright in Hamburg ruled in the year 2012 that YouTube had a liability to remove the content that was infringing. Unlike in the past where the collecting society faced few challenges, the modern technological era has seen it face various problems that stem from the reconfiguration of new players in the music industry, the need to have cross-territorial options of licensing, and increased cases of copyright fragmentation (Haunss 2013). Consequently, this has changed the way in which publishers conduct their businesses and are more vigilant in making sure that the clients are protected from suits and their reputation is maintained. They have also created a platform in which they can work together with the collecting society in an effort to make the industry better and have a fair share of benefits. The copyright laws have also changed with time and have affected the way in which music publishers carry out their daily chores. The earliest recording of case law was in the ancient Ireland and contained a Vulgate version of the book of Psalms with an interpretive heading. There was a dispute that arose, regarding its ownership where King Diarmait gave judgement, asserting that every book belonged to its copy. In the modern days, copyright law has been affected by conventional legal rights such as the economic rights of the benefactor who pay to have the creation of the copy, the moral rights of the songwriter or author, and the property rights of the owner of the copy or song. There is also the sovereign’s right to regulate and censor the printing firm. With innovation in technology, there have been increased cases of piracy and heightened market size for illegal and legal copies. For that reason, unlike before where publishers did not require extensive learning, the modern environment has forced them to learn more about copyright laws to avoid being sued and protect their clients from malicious damage that might affect their careers. As a result, there has been new players in the publishing industry that range from private equity to recording firms since music publishing is perceived to be extensively insulated against the changing market because of its different streams of increased revenue (Schwabach 2007, p. 66). There has been increased high profile legal cases of people and firms that are being prosecuted for distribution and illegal use of copyrighted content. Therefore, publishers have changed the way in which they operate to protect their clients and enhance their finances by taking an initiative to understand different rights such as that of intellectual property, which is not commonly understood. They also make sure that copyrights are protected to reward and encourage creativity. Music publishers also have made it a point of having personal lawyers who are experienced in copyright law, music publishing, tax law, recording industry, and artist management. This ensures smooth transition and makes it possible for the music publishers to have a promising future (Baskerville & Baskerville 2010, pp. 58-59.). How publishers might realize their potential ahead Music publishers have immense potential that they ought to realize in order to enhance profits and improve the industry. Most pf the publishers and labels are becoming music firms. Therefore, for publishers to realize their full potentials, they must be willing to promote and develop artists. They should also be willing to learn on the dynamics of the business, including the relevant laws to protect their clients and develop a wider market base. Furthermore, they should be willing to collaborate with the collecting societies, the songwriters, the producers, and the legal fraternity in making the necessary laws and regulations, ensuring that all persons are treated fairly. This also means that they must be willing to act as friendly members of the team and advise the artists, appreciate their talents, and work with them towards guaranteeing creativity. With the era of internet transformation, most of the songwriters and artists believe that they can work alone and reach fans using their websites. They also have the perception that they can exploit their talents through the search engines, internet, and viral video oriented sites. In that case, music publishers need to get out of their comfort zone and explore the internet, offering advice to upcoming artist. They should offer platform in which they offer services where they can register copyrights on their behalf. They should also diversify and not only perform the traditional functions but also venture into the modern ones to reach more clients, mostly those who use the internet. It is indisputably that music publishers have the potential to change the music industry affirmatively if they respect the artists and enable as well as encourage them to achieve their full prospective. This can only happen in cases where there is fair play and the publisher prioritizes on the needs of the audience and that of the songwriters or artists (Gammons 2011). Conclusion In the music industry, publishers play a major role as far as collection of royalties, protecting copyrights, licensing, and being involved in creative work to promote the artists is concerned. Changes in technology, copyright law, status of writers, and collecting societies in the past 25 years have changed ways in which publishers operate, meet the challenges of the market, and protect copyright. Today, they are more informed and competitive in trying to learn new dynamics of technology and how they can reach a wider market base. To realise their full potential, music publishers should learn about the respective laws to avoid legal suits, create a healthy working environment with the songwriters, and be more attentive on the changes of technology and how they can affect their operations. Reference List Baskerville, D & Baskerville, T, 2010, Music Business Handbook and Career Guide, California, CA: SAGE Publishers. Biederman, D, 2007, Law and Business in the Entertainment Industry, New York, NY: Greenwood Publishing. Braheny, J, 2006, The Craft & Business of Song writing, New York, NY: Writers Digest Book. Gammons, H, 2011, the Art of Music Publishing: An Entrepreneurial Guide to Publishing and Copyright for the Music, Film, and Media Industries, Florida: CRC Press. Haunss, S, 2013, “The Changing ole of Collecting Societies in the Internet”, Journal of Internet evolution, vol.2, no.3, [Online] Available at < http://policyreview.info/articles/analysis/changing-role-collecting-societies-internet> [viewed 08 Jan 2015] Jeffrey, D, 2000, “The Evolution of E-Music”, Billboard, Vol. 112, no. 10, pp. 1-132. Kasaras, K, 2002, “Music in the Age of Free Distribution: MP3 and Society”, Peer-Reviewed Journal on the Internet, vol.7, no.1, [Online] Available at < http://uncommonculture.org/ojs/index.php/fm/article/view/927/849>[viewed 08 Jan 2015] Pitt, I, 2010, Economic Analysis of Music Copyright: Income, Media, and Performances, Kentucky, KY: Springer. Scott, A, 2011, “Kobalt Music Group: Redefining Music Publishing”, Music Business Journal, [Online] Available at < http://www.thembj.org/2011/12/kobalt-music-group-redefining-the-role of-a-music-publisher/> [viewed 08 Jan 2015] Schwabach, A, 2007, Intellectual Property: A Reference Handbook, London, UK: ABC-CLIO. Read More