"Despite what you might have read, the collecting societies are in good shape and the management of collections in the online world is under control," that was the conclusion of John Hutchinson, chief executive of the MCPS-PRS Alliance speaking at MusicTank's ThinkTank event in London last night.
The debate centred on how the societies that collect royalty revenues on behalf of songwriters, artists and copyright owners - PRS, MCPS, PPL et al - were coping given the new challenges presented by the online (and increasingly global) age, the recent interest shown by EC regulators in the operations of the collecting societies and the news that Universal had moved its European Central Licensing Agreement from the UK's MCPS to Belgium's main royalties collection society SABAM.
However Hutchison argued that, while the societies didn't always win the PR war ("for Apple to claim it was the collecting societies that delayed the arrival of iTunes in Europe is just wrong"), organisations like his were providing a better service for their members than ever before in an increasingly complex copyright world. "I am the first to criticise both my own organisation, and others, but I do feel that most major collecting societies are now using acceptable methods to achieve the efficient, accurate and transparent collecting of our members' royalties".
4AD Music's Andy Heath backed up Hutchison's opinions, but stressed the importance of better integration between collecting societies around the world. Suggesting there are far too many collecting societies out there, Heath said, "some collecting societies act as if they have a divine right to exist. The societies have to offer a good service to their members to justify their existence." A particular concern was some of the practices of the European collection societies, which proved problematic for both copyright owners, and those who wished to licence their catalogues. However Hutchison stressed that, while he agreed there were issues, he felt things were improving, and that sometimes the more awkward collecting societies did actually get better deals for their members in the end.
Urging all artists and musicians to join a collecting society, and advocating the current non-commercial nature of the societies, David Ferguson, chairman of the British Academy of Composers and Songwriters said "Despite the various issues, the collection societies ensure the option of independent membership in the music market. Without collection societies who work to secure the royalties of all of their members, oblivious of how big those royalties are, we would have a situation where the major record labels and retailers would have even more dominance. The collecting societies, and the collective strength they give creatives, are essential for enabling independents to work in the music business".