British artist managers have renewed their support to the MCPS-PRS Alliance ahead of the collecting society’s upcoming tribunal hearing over an online royalty rates row.
Music Managers’ Forum chairman Jazz Summers used the platform of the organization’s annual meeting to reaffirm the MMF’s desire to see a resolution to the conflict that will not affect artists’ earnings.
“2006 is shaping up to be a defining year for our industry, routes to market are wide open and opportunities abound — yet this potential will be squandered if all parties do not listen to each others concerns,” Summers said Dec. 13 at the managers’ trade body’s annual meeting.
The Alliance, which combines the Performing Right Society and Mechanical-Copyright Protection Society, was
referred by the British Phonographic Industry and seven leading online music platforms on June 29 to the Copyright Tribunal. They claim that there is a discrepancy between the royalty fees charged by the Alliance for physical, broadcast and online products and object to the Alliance’s online tariff proposals.
MMF’s general secretary James Sellar says that the BPI’s plan is to restrict the PRS/MCPS proportion of the digital income pie. He adds that the organization “is against any land grab by the record industry on other income streams, namely the publishing in this case on digitally distributed files.”
During the formal proceedings of the 12th annual meeting, Summers and Gary McClarnan were re-elected as chairman and vice chairman, respectively. An MMF chairman stands each year, to a maximum of three concurrent years.
The trade body has scheduled its Roll of Honour awards to take place on April 19 at the London Hilton, Park Lane. The awards were not held this year.
