Copyright Review Commission Report - ICT Law and Regulation ...

APPENDIX 7: RESPONSE TO THE TERMS OF REFERENCES OF THE CRCTERMS OF REFERENCESNO’SREQUIREMENTS1. Assess the effectiveness of the structureof collecting societies in South Africa,including those that belong to authors,composers, recording companies,musicians/artists and others. The CRCshould assess,advise and makerecommendations on how the collectivemanagement of copyright can beimproved.THE CRC HIGH LEVEL RESPONSESThe failure to distribute the needletime royalties is partly due to the inappropriateness ofthe structure for the needletime collecting societies. SAMPRA was accredited as themusic producers’ collecting society and SAMRO as a performers’ society. TheRegulations or the Registrar did not envisage how they would work together in makingsure that the royalties are effectively distributed by them. Currently, there is anunresolved dispute between the parties as a result of this ambiguity.Due to the confusion around NORM and SAMRO’s repertoire, arising as a result of theoverlapping membership between the two organisations, there are payment backlogsfor the mechanical rights by the major music users, like television stations and mobiletelephone networks.In order to deal with the above, the CRC has recommended the following:REFERENCES TO CRC REPORTParagraph 6.1 & Chapter 5Paragraph 8.1.7One collecting society per right (one collecting society for performance rights, onecollecting society for needletime rights and one collecting society for mechanicalrights).In order to facilitate the above recommendation, a merger of some of the collectingsocieties’ operations is recommended: SAMPRA to merge with SAMRO’s needletime unit; NORM to merge with SAMRO’s mechanical rights unit; and SAMRO’s performance rights unit to remain with SAMRO.If the proposals are not fully implemented within two years, an appropriateprocedure will have to be followed for the accreditation of the relevant society.The scope of the Regulations should be broadened in order to incorporatecollecting societies for performance and mechanical rights.The Registrar is to be empowered to oversee the other collecting societies (forperformance and mechanical rights) as well.Paragraph 6.3.4Paragraph 6.3.4Paragraph 6.3.4Paragraph 6.3.4- 207 -