MUMBAI: US headquartered online electronic music retailer Beatport has signed a licence agreement for authors’ rights with music copyright organisation Buma/Stemra covering all of the world’s music repertoire.
The license applies throughout the European Union, and the license model offered by Buma/Stemra provides online music service providers with a one-stop shop for authors’ rights for music for 27 European countries, says a company release.
Buma/Stemra is the only music copyright organisation so far to issue such a Pan-European licence, it claims. “Beatport has partnered with the world’s leading artists and record labels to bring their content to a growing online community of DJs and enthusiasts who are looking to legally purchase electronic music in premium encoded, non-DRM formats,” says Beatport CEO Jonas Tempel. This licensing model allows Beatport to efficiently take care of the music copyright payments for all of Europe in a single transaction.
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This is not the first time that Buma/Stemra has issued such a Pan-European licence. The American online music store eMusic has also concluded a similar agreement with Buma/Stemra, allowing it to launch its online music subscription model in 27 European countries in a single transaction.
Beatport’s European label partners reported difficulties in effectively disbursing this publishing income to the relevant rights owners. In order to address and resolve this problem Beatport has over the last 18 months thoroughly explored all possible solutions to cause the publishing income from sales in Europe to be paid more efficiently to the relevant rights owners. After extensive research and discussions, Beatport has teamed with the Dutch author’s rights collecting society Buma/Stemra to create the perfect partnership for this transition.The Pan-European agreements Buma/Stemra has signed with Beatport and eMusic are in line with the European Commission’s intentions to end the traditional system of territorially restricted collective management in which the music copyright organisations each hold a monopoly in their own country and online licences are issued separately for each EU member state, says the release.
Without the approach offered by Buma/Stemra, music retailers need to make 27 stops, one in each country, to take care of the music copyrights. This results in endless administrative and fiscal complications. Buma/Stemra acknowledges the need for competition between the various European music copyright organisations and has, in keeping with the requirements of both the European Commission and the online music market, developed and fully stands behind a one-stop-shop model that allows music users to obtain a single licence to exploit authors’ rights in all the European Union.
The licensing model is based on retaining the world’s music repertoire for every European music copyright organisation. The royalty rates applied through this multi-territorial license are the tariffs set in the country where the copyright is to be exploited (sometimes called the “country of destination” principle or the “country of usage”). In other words, music used in, say, Germany will be accounted for on the basis of the tariffs in use in Germany; music used in Spain will be subject to royalty payments on the basis of the tariff in use there. The advantage of this model is that competition between collecting societies offering multi-territorial licenses takes place on the basis of the costs and services of the music copyright organisations and not on the royalty rates paid to rightsholders. The income of authors, composers and music publishers is thus safeguarded from any downward pressure which might occur in the case of unbridled competition.
This model for a one-stop-shop is a highly efficient way for both the music user and the rights holder to make licensing arrangements across Europe, the companies say.
“Not only is the Netherlands home for some of electronic music’s greatest producers and DJs,” said Jonas Tempel, “but now, Buma/Stemra has matched that spirit of innovation by currently being the only European music copyright organisation to provide a Pan-European licence that covers all of the world’s music repertoire, greatly simplifying the process of paying royalties.”
Jonas Tempel went on to say, “In addition, I am impressed with the quality of Buma/Stemra’s services, and the organisation is making serious investments in innovation as well as blazing the trail in the development of new online licensing models in the midst of a rapidly changing market.”
Says Cees Vervoord, CEO of Buma/Stemra, “The license agreement with Beatport puts Buma/Stemra in a leading position internationally with respect to the rollout and implementation of competitive new licensing models in line with the needs of today’s market. This allows Buma/Stemra to continue to represent the interests of all music authors and publishers in the Dance scene (both Dutch and international), in an effective manner.”
