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MusicTank puts the spotlight on making available
By Chris Cooke | Published on Thursday 22 October 2015
MusicTank will put the spotlight on the good old making available right in its next panel event in London, called ‘Creators’ Rights In The Digital Landscape’.
As with a number of recent events held by MusicTank, the debate begins with a paper, this one written by Fiona McGugan called ‘Making Available, Communication To The Public And User Interactivity’. She will then be joined by Alexander Ross of Wiggin LLP, Horace Trubridge of the UK’s Musicians’ Union, Benoît Machuel of the International Federation of Musicians, and others, to debate the issues.
The so called making available right is one of the controls enjoyed by copyright owners, and applies when content is distributed digitally in a way that users “may access it from a place and at a time individually chosen by them”. There has been much debate about when the making available right does and does not apply, which is an important distinction because of the impact it has on performer rights, both the right of performers to restrict the exploitation of their recordings, and to share in the income.
The issues are set out in McGugan’s paper, and also in the ‘Dissecting The Digital Dollar’ report we recently published with the UK Music Managers Forum.
Anticipating the debate, MusicTank Chair Keith Harris told reporters: “It is important for the whole industry to get right the payment levels for creators in the new environment. Their work is after all at the heart of the whole construct. A voluntary, sensible agreement about payments and payment structures would make so much more sense than the need for legislative intervention, which might end up being the alternative, as the business model starts to teeter”.
The MusicTank event on the issue takes place on 10 Nov at the University Of Westminster, info and tickets here.
