Music organisation's licensing revenue falls

FEWER LIVE music events in 2010 contributed to a 6 per centdecline in licensing revenue earned by the Irish Music RightsOrganisation last year.

The organisation, which represents 7,500 songwriters, composersand music publishers, earned total licensing revenue of [euro]38.1million in 2010, down 5.8 per cent on 2009, its annual report shows.

The fall in revenue was the result of lower levels of advertisingfrom independent radio and fewer events taking place last yearcompared to 2009 - a record year for live music.

The organisation's chief executive, Victor Finn, said just 1 percent of total licensing revenues - a sum of less than [euro]400,000 -collected last year came from online royalties, but added that thiswas "not a fair reflection" of the use of members' work. "It shouldbe significantly higher than that, if you look at the volume offiles that are swapped and shared," he said.

The organisation welcomed signals by the Government that it wouldallow copyright holders to take injunctions against internet serviceproviders (ISPs) whose customers engaged in music piracy. This wouldbring the Irish regime in line with European law.

"We very much welcome this proposal, but we believe that that'sjust the start. Legislation is one thing, but we would prefer if wehad the full co-operation of the ISP industry," said Mr Finn.

"We would like to see all content being licensed, in an idealworld. No one wants to see anyone's internet connectiondisconnected. It's very much a measure of last resort."

Last October, UPC won a court case taken by record labels, whichwere hoping to force the internet provider to operate a "threestrikes" rule against customers.

Eircom is the only Irish internet service provider operating a"three strikes" policy. About 10 per cent of Eircom's 500,000 retailbroadband customers have signed up to its range of additionalservices, including MusicHub, from which the music rightsorganisation earns licensing fees for the streaming and downloadingof its members' music.

The organisation plans to make a submission to the Government'sreview of the Copyright and Related Rights Act 2000, which isexpected to report before the end of the year. Minister of State forResearch and Innovation Sean Sherlock announced last week that theperiod for submissions would be extended to July 14th.

Despite the fall in revenue, the amount distributed to the musicorganisation's members rose 1.6 per cent to [euro]24.7 million lastyear. If cable rights holders are included, the sums distributedrose 2 per cent to [euro]39.7 million. The payments made increasedbecause they partly relate to the use of music in 2009.

The organisation's membership base increased substantially lastyear, with 542 songwriters joining.