ACCC proposes to allow collective administration of sound recording rights by PPCA
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has proposed conditions in a draft decision to re-authorise* the Phonographic Performance Company of Australia Limited's collective licensing arrangements** for the public performance or broadcast of sound recordings and music videos.
"The conditions proposed by the ACCC are designed to provide a further check on the market power of the PPCA in terms of licensing, particularly when dealing with small users," ACCC Chairman, Mr Graeme Samuel, said.
PPCA is a copyright collecting society which represents the interests of record companies and Australian recording artists. Under PPCA's collective licensing arrangements, owners of sound recordings grant PPCA a non-exclusive right to license the public performance and transmission rights of their sound recordings. The four major record companies in Australia - Sony BMG, EMI, Universal and Warner are licensors under PPCA's arrangements. As a result, the majority of sound recordings commercially released in Australia are covered by PPCA's collective licence.
"The ACCC accepts that PPCA's collective licensing arrangements will result in public benefits through administrative, monitoring and negotiation cost savings. The arrangements also facilitate compliance with copyright law and provide a convenient means to both record companies and users to access a range of sound recordings.
"While blanket licensing can be beneficial to both copyright users and owners, it allows owners of sound recordings to pool their rights and removes the competitive pressures that would exist if copyright owners competed individually to license their rights.
"This creates the scope for PPCA to exercise market power in the setting of licence fees and conditions because parties wishing to use copyright have limited, if any, alternatives."
The proposed conditions require:
alternative dispute resolution procedures to be specifically included in PPCA's Complaints Handling and Dispute Resolution Policy
each record company to independently develop guidelines outlining the circumstances in which it would consider entering into direct licenses
written notice to be provided to licensees of proposed fee increases or other material changes to blanket licences, and
the maintenance of a list of those sound recordings in the PPCA repertoire which are protected under Australian copyright law and therefore covered by the PPCA blanket licence.
The conditions are designed to ensure that the benefits resulting from PPCA's collective licensing arrangements outweigh the public detriments and as such the ACCC proposes to re-authorise the arrangements for five years.
The ACCC is seeking submissions from interested parties in relation to its draft determination and the precise wording of the proposed conditions. Copies of the draft determination will be available on the ACCC's website.
Submissions can be made to:
The General Manager Adjudication Branch Australian Competition and Consumer Commission PO Box 1199, Dickson, ACT, 2602.
*Authorisation provides immunity from court action for conduct that might otherwise raise concerns under the competition provisions of the Trade Practices Act 1974. Broadly, the ACCC may grant an authorisation when it is satisfied that the public benefit from the conduct outweighs any public detriment. The ACCC conducts a comprehensive public consultation process and issues a draft determination before making a decision to grant or deny authorisation.
** PPCA's arrangements were first authorised indefinitely in 1985. Following ACCC interest in reviewing the 1985 authorisation, PPCA submitted its arrangements covering input licences, output licences, license out arrangements and distribution arrangements for re-authorisation.
