Mr Culture Secretary Andy Burnham said he would keep an "open mind" when it came to the recorded music copyright term debate yesterday, though he was surrounded by recorded music copyright owners, so he probably would say that. Burnham was talking at the annual general meeting of UK recording royalty collecting society PPL at the British Museum.
The minister discussed various issues affecting the wider music industry in his speech, though it is probably the copyright term issue that most of the people in the room were interested in – more so even that the aforementioned ISP/P2P debate.
As previously reported, the UK government’s Gowers Review of copyright laws recommended that the copyright term for recorded music stay at the current fifty years, despite calls from across the record industry to increase it, to bring it closer to the 95 years awarded to recordings in the US and the life plus seventy years copyright enjoyed by songwriters. But there is a European dimension to this debate, and EU Commissioner Charlie McCreevy has been more supportive of proposals for a term extension.
Commenting on that, Burnham told the PPL AGM "I will take a close look at McCreevy's details when they are revealed later in the summer. I understand the issues and will engage constructively in the process and join in the debate with my European counterparts". It was during a Q&A session that Burnham added that he had an "open mind" on the copyright term issue, calling the whole thing a "work in progress" and again stressing the importance of the European debate on the issue.
The boss of PPL, Fran Nevrkla, is seemingly optimistic about McGreevy’s intentions for the copyright term, and unsurprisingly happy at the Europe-level support for an extension after the disappointment of the Gowers conclusion on the topic. In his speech to the AGM he said: "Following the rather hostile, deeply flawed and now largely discredited Gowers Review we are much encouraged by the brave, intelligent and far-sighted initiative taken in Brussels by the European Commissioner for the Internal Market and Services, Charlie McCreevy, who clearly sees no justification why the deliberate and insupportable discrimination against performers and record companies should continue. We are very grateful to Commissioner McCreevy for his visionary and supportive approach, and his recommendation that the term of copyright protection for sound recordings should be extended from the current 50 years to 95 years".
Noting his main guest at the AGM, he added: "The recent appointment of Andy Burnham MP, into the role of Secretary Of State For Culture, Media And Sport gives us grounds for fresh hope and optimism. I know that Andy is genuinely enthusiastic about and supportive of the creative industries, which is always a good start, so, hopefully, watch this space!"
Elsewhere in his speech, Nevrkla revealed the body had passed the £100 million milestone in annual revenues for the first time last year, bringing in £115 million in royalties for its record label and recording artist members. Noting the increased importance of royalty collection to record labels in a market where traditional record sales continue to decline, even when new download revenues are taken into account, Nevrkla concluded: "I have always said that collecting societies should not be satisfied by comparing themselves with other similar bodies but rather, we should strive to achieve the standards of performance maintained by the best run companies in any commercial business environment. This is only achievable with two essential ingredients: first class teams of high calibre, motivated people and excellent systems. We certainly have the former and we are busy developing the latter".