Flexible collective rights management is fast emerging - and rightly so. Dutch collective rights society Buma/Stemra wants to expand the ability of musicians to promote themselves online. Buma/Stemra is the organization that collects fees on behalf of musicians for use of music. This is called collective copyright management. Musicians who are registered with Buma/Stemra are not allowed to exploit their own music, because they have transferred their rights. This can be a problem when a musician wants to promote his own music online, for example via MySpace. Buma/Stemra has recently attempted to be more flexible, allowing musicians to distribute their work non-commercially under a Creative Commons license. This 'pilot' is not a big success, with only 30 participants late 2009. The main reason: almost nothing counts as ‘non-commercial’. During a panel discussion on the Noorderslag festival last week, it became clear that Buma/Stemra wants to take it to the next level. Together with Creative Commons, it’s going to carefully reconsider the definition of non-commercial use. In addition, Buma/Stemra is very interested in a proposal from the music industry: the creation of an application on the website of Buma/Stemra which allows musicians to individually arrange the exploitation of their rights by Buma/Stemra. It’s sink or swim for Buma/Stemra. If it fails to distinguish itself by flexibility, it will in no time lose ground to larger European collective rights organizations. Time for action!
Daniel Haije
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office Emerald House Jozef Israëlskade 48-G Amsterdam, the Netherlands t +31 (0)20 - 305 3066 www.hoogenhaak.nl |
post PO Box 76780 1070 KB Amsterdam e info@hoogenhaak.nl f +31 (0)20 - 305 3069 chamber of commerce 34314579 |
Flexible collective rights management is fast emerging - and rightly so. Dutch collective rights society Buma/Stemra wants to expand the ability of musicians to promote themselves online. Buma/Stemra is the organization that collects fees on behalf of musicians for use of music. This is called collective copyright management. Musicians who are registered with Buma/Stemra are not allowed to exploit their own music, because they have transferred their rights. This can be a problem when a musician wants to promote his own music online, for example via MySpace. Buma/Stemra has recently attempted to be more flexible, allowing musicians to distribute their work non-commercially under a Creative Commons license. This 'pilot' is not a big success, with only 30 participants late 2009. The main reason: almost nothing counts as ‘non-commercial’. During a panel discussion on the Noorderslag festival last week, it became clear that Buma/Stemra wants to take it to the next level. Together with Creative Commons, it’s going to carefully reconsider the definition of non-commercial use. In addition, Buma/Stemra is very interested in a proposal from the music industry: the creation of an application on the website of Buma/Stemra which allows musicians to individually arrange the exploitation of their rights by Buma/Stemra. It’s sink or swim for Buma/Stemra. If it fails to distinguish itself by flexibility, it will in no time lose ground to larger European collective rights organizations. Time for action!
Daniel Haije