[cma-l] Copyright Changes Proposed

[Trevor Lockwood]

Gary

I agree the changes are necessary. I remain concerned about PPL and PRS, a commercial company operating under a section of the design, trademark protection legislation, that appears to have a stranglehold on the distribution of musical content.

There are many stories about the heavy-handed and legalistic attitude they adopt, but the situation still remains very unclear. I'd like to see a very clear statement about what has to be paid, what happens to that money, how our local artistes can receive some of that money, and whether such a company should have that responsibility. Perhaps it could be a 'nice little earner' for OfCom?

To suggest that we can 'choose' which of eight stations we are most like, and then to say that these chosen stations will be monitored occasionally is not sufficient. It's clear that many stations are being forced to pay more than they should, that local musicians gain nothing and, I understand, the CEO of this organisation is paid £600,000 a year for this 'service'. We have the technology to create a much fairer system - and maybe we make the subject of that NESTA grant that's now available?

Failing an adequate explanation, and given the current income they must be receiving from the community sector I can see no economic reason why we shouldn't set up a rival service.

There's a cat for you stool pigeons.

Trevor
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