Recorded Music

2009 draft (10/21)

Recorded Music: Songwriters, Performers, and Listening Public

1. Authors, composers of musical works, performers on sound recordings and music fans agree that we have common interests and new opportunities to collaborate. Technology now enables more creators to distribute, and everyone to access more works, in more different ways. These new distribution mechanisms for creators and access methods for everyone should be encouraged to flourish. We aim to create an innovation environment to encourage new technologies that foster access.

2. Traditionally, differences in bargaining power have often led to unfair outcomes between creative individuals and the commercial entities that invest in, market or sell culture and knowledge goods and to many creative works being withheld from the public. This unfairness can be heightened, or mitigated, in the digital environment where everything can be made available, but where many works are not authorized to be made available.

3. Everyone benefits from a cultural and economic environment that affords ample and diverse opportunities for both amateur and professional participation in creative activities. We seek to foster an atmosphere where people can develop into professional creators and to expand economic opportunities for professional creators so that those in the creative industries have access to a middle class living.

4. In the digital context, we should create systems premised on enabling, rather than prohibiting, access to and use of creative works.

5. We need legal regimes and a variety of public and private systems that remunerate creators to support the artistic development, incomes and economic security of artists, while also enabling cultural diversity and broad access to works [at reasonable prices].

These principles and systems should:

General Principles

1. provide reasonable protections from censorship or control by governments

2. stimulate cultural diversity and ensure the preservation and archiving of vital cultural and social heritages and its access

3. promote access to music for the broadest possible set of consumers

4. ensure that mechanisms for remunerating creators [and investors] are comprehensive, easy and convenient and foster access to and use of works, rather than creating a barrier thereto

5. foster repertoire wide access to enable new business models and permit new types of access models to develop

Principles for Creators

1. reward the creators [and investors] in an equitable manner for their creativity and [permit reasonable returns] for investment of time and money

2. foster a diversity of revenue streams, service providers and methods of exploitation, free from excessive concentrations of ownership and gatekeepers

3. ensure that gatekeepers aren’t erected to prevent or limit artists from using the distribution channels or from earning an equitable share of any direct or indirect revenue

4. foster artistic freedom and reasonable creative control over works by artists

5. ensure creators can exploit all their works, i.e., creators should be permitted to exploit their works if the copyright owner is not exploiting them, provided the creator complies with payment obligations to other parties that arise when the work is used

6. ensure that contracts between artists and businesses that wish to invest in or exploit the works are fair and provide reasonable compensation to the artists

7. ensure that [all businesses that attract customers or users through music should compensate the creators of the music used] or [anyone who exploits the works of a creator must pay an equitable remuneration to the creator for any direct or indirect value received as a result of the direct or indirect exploitation of their work]

8. [provide that the creator has the moral right to claim authorship of the work and to object to any distortion, mutilation or other modification of, or other derogatory action in relation to, the said work, which would be prejudicial to his/her honor or reputation] or [support norms that encourage accurate attribution when works are transformed, reused, or remixed, and discourage the association of creators with commercial messages without their consent]

9. permit artists to reinterpret and explore works of other artists in new musical works and sound recordings, [consistent with the original artist’s moral rights and providing of equitable remuneration]

10. ensure transparent accounting and payment to creators [whose works are exploited, wherever and however the exploitation occurs]

11. [require that the artists’ payments are paid from the distributor directly to the artist or the artist’s collective, rather than through an intermediary such as a copyright owner (the artist collective will decide whether to permit assignments and recoupments)]

12. [provide that organizations that collect remuneration for creators have democratic governance made up of those entitled to receive the remunerations collected on the same proportional basis]

13. [limit the assignment of copyright to its exploitation in the technology available at the time of assignment or any other technology that is reasonably predicted and which is explicitly referenced in the artist’s contract] or [creators should not be able to assign copyrights, only to license them] or

14. limit the length that a creator can [assign or license] his/her copyright to a maximum of 20 years (although derivative works created pursuant to such assignment and license can continue to be exploited)

15. permit opportunities to engage in [transformative uses, including homage, education,] criticism, parody and satire

16. recognize that the realization of these creator principles depends on a vibrant environment for investment in the creative industries and for innovation by technology companies

Principles for Public Access

1. foster a diversity of types of access, free from excessive concentrations of ownership and gatekeepers

2. ensure that “orphaned,” out-of print and other unexploited works can be accessed

3. [ensure that anyone who exploits the works of a creator must pay an equitable remuneration to the creator for any direct or indirect value received as a result of the direct or indirect exploitation of their work]

4. [permit the public to benefit from and reinterpret and explore works of artists, consistent with the original artist’s moral rights and providing of remuneration for any direct or indirect commercial exploitation] or [permit the public to benefit from and reinterpret and explore works of artists without compensation to the creators so long as those uses [are non-commercial and] do not unreasonably interfere with the existing commercial exploitation]

5. allow consumers opportunities to access the widest possible breadth of music [regardless of wealth] [and to discover niche and obscure artists and music genres]

6. permit opportunities to engage in [transformative uses, including homage, education,] criticism, parody and satire

7. [provide seamless and interoperable access to all users, so that they can access their content wherever they are and on whatever device they choose]

8. [recognize that in the music sphere, DRM has often been detrimental to both creators and users, [and that legal restrictions on circumventing DRM have been counter-productive,] and that arrangements free from DRM should be encouraged]

9. [require that all users be advised, in an prominent and clear manner, of any and all DRM restrictions that will be placed on the works prior to purchase]

10. [provide that all users be able to access all works that are locked by DRM in the event the company goes out of business and there is no successor providing the ability to access the works]

11. require disclosure of the ways all personal information will be kept and used in a prominent and clear manner, [both prior to purchase and on a continuing basis after purchase] or [prior to purchase and prohibit changes to those policies after purchase without the consumer consent]

12. encourage solutions that are premised on enabling, rather than prohibiting, public access to and use of creative works

13. recognize that the realization of these public access principles depends on a vibrant innovation environment for technology companies [and for investment in the creative industries]

“artists” and “creators” are used interchangeably and include both performers and songwriters and anyone else who makes a creative input

“works” shall mean sound recordings, compositions and performances

2006 Draft (July 2006)

1.Authors, composers and performers of musical works, and consumers agree that we have common interests and new opportunities to collaborate. Enormous differences in bargaining power currently lead to unfair outcomes between creative individuals users and the commercial entities that sell culture and knowledge goods.

2.We need legal regimes and public and private systems that support the [incomes] [livelihoods] [economic security] of artists and determine the access to works. These legal regimes and systems should:

3.provide protections from censorship or control by governments,

4.provide for a diversity of distribution channels, free from excessive concentrations of ownership;

5.foster artistic freedom and creative control over works by artists,

6.protect artists from unfair contract between artists and music publishers;

7.permit artists to benefit from and reinterpret and explore works of other artists, while giving appropriate credit;

8.allow consumers opportunities to discover new artists and music genres;

9.lower the amount of money being spend on the distribution of works, at the expense of artists and consumers;

10.provide access to works that area older, and not necessarily the best known;

11.provide opportunities for consumers to engage in criticism;

12.commentary and promotion of works they enjoy, provide measures to overcome technological or other means that restrict access that harms creators, libraries, educational, institutions, archives and persons with disabilities, and undermine privacy and freedom;

13.Permit measures that provide essential information about creative goods and allow the creator to be identified, provided any data produced is not linked to individual consumer purchases/access;

14.Provide quick and easy means of redress to consumers.

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