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you can register your record company; and a unique “Registrant Code” will be generated. The ISRC website is well organized and instructions are very well written. For a tutorial on how to construct an ISRC code, go to http://tinyurl.com/ISRC-Tutorial.

diverse as Dionne Warwick, Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Tre Cool, Mike Dirnt and Billie Joe Armstrong of Green Day, Jackson Browne, Josh Groban, Andrea Bocelli, and Mary J. Blige argue that the bill properly compensates performing artists. Broadcasters, such as Clear Channel, oppose the bill arguing that the performance right is unnecessary and overly burdensome and have likened it to a “public performance tax”. With the amount of money at stake, this debate will likely continue for months to come.

Alliance of Artists and Record Companies (AARC)
Before 1992, there was no law in the United States that provided for the recovery of royalties lost due to home taping. Seeing the growth in audio recording technologies which gave the consumer the ability to make near perfect digital copies of music, the RIAA and music publishers threatened to sue technology companies and lobbied Congress to pass legislation to address this issue. Their threats and lobbying efforts paid off and resulted in the passage of the Audio Home Recording Act of 1992 (AHRA). Under the AHRA, importers and manufacturers pay royalties on “digital audio recording devices” and “digital audio recording media”. Those who wish to import, manufacture and distribute these products must seek a statutory license from the Copyright Office. Royalties are based on “transfer price”, either the sale price or the price recorded for customs purposes in the case of importers. For digital audio recording devices, manufacturers and importers pay a two percent (2%) royalty on the device’s transfer price, with a minimum royalty of $1 and a maximum of $8 ($12 for dual recorders) per device. For digital audio recording media, manufacturers and importers pay a three percent (3%) royalty. In order to collect these royalties, you will need to register with the Alliance of Artists and Recording Companies, Inc. (AARC): www.aarcroyalties.com. The AARC is the leading U.S. organization representing featured artists and recording companies throughout the world in the areas of hometaping/private copy royalties and rental royalties. Although this sounds like a great source of income, in my experience most recording artists receive little, if any, money from AARC. Nonetheless, you should register with AARC so that you can collect any monies that you may be entitled to under AHRA.

Performance Right in Sound Recordings
As we discussed in the first installment of this series, the public performance right granted by the U.S. Copyright Act originally applied only to the public performance of musical compositions—not the recordings. This inequity was remedied, in part, by the passage of Digital Performance Right in Sound Recording Act of 1995 (“DPRSRA”). In 1995, Congress passed the DPRSRA, which created a public performance right for owners of sound recordings and recording artists when recordings are performed by digital audio transmissions. The DPRSRA grants owners of a copyright in sound recordings an exclusive right “to perform the copyrighted work publicly by means of a digital audio transmission”. This new public performance right applies to the performance of sound recordings on the Internet (e.g., webcasting), digital cable (e.g., Music Choice) and satellite radio (e.g., Sirius XM). As a result of this right, the owners of master recordings have been able to collect money for the public performance of their recordings. These royalties are collected by Sound Exchange, a non-profit organization based in Washington, DC. Not only do the owners of the master recording receive this royalty, but also the featured recording artist(s) and producer. In order to receive this income, you will need to register with Sound Exchange. If you own your own master recordings, and/or are, or have been a featured artist at any point in your career, it is a nobrainer that you should register with Sound Exchange (go to www.soundexchange.com). Sadly, my experience with their customer service representative has not always been as smooth as I might have wanted it to be, and maybe that’s been partially my own fault. All I can recommend is that if you contact them, early in your communication, try to explain your ignorance of what they can do for you—tell them you don’t know anything about what they do; that might serve you well. And be patient. As of the date this article is published, this right does not apply to terrestrial radio. Currently, when you hear a song on terrestrial radio in the United States (i.e., the radio in your car or home) the recording artist and record label do not receive any compensation; only the song’s publisher and writer. This means when you hear the late Jeff Buckley sing “Hallelujah” on the radio, the songwriters (Leonard Cohen and Marie Backman) and their publisher (Sony/ATV Tunes LLC) receive royalty payments from their performing rights society (ASCAP); Jeff’s estate and his record company (Sony) do not. That may soon change with the passage of The Performance Rights Act (H.R. 848 and the U.S. Senate bill S. 379). This bill would amend U.S. copyright law and expand the public performance right to cover terrestrial broadcasts, such as AM/FM radio. Recording artists as
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Until next time
If this seems like a lot of places to register and keep track of... welcome to the music industry. With so many places for your music to be distributed and heard in the modern world, you need to be sure you’re set up to be compensated for that exposure. Todd Gascon (gascon@recordingmag.com) is a technology and entertainment attorney at ZentLaw in Sunnyvale, California. Mr. Gascon’s practice is focused in the areas of intellectual property law, including copyrights and trademarks, with a particular emphasis on digital media, music, motion pictures, visual arts and all entertainment issues relative to the Internet. For more information on Todd and ZentLaw, visit www.zentlaw.com. Bruce Kaphan (kaphan@recordingmag.com) is a producer/ engineer/musician/composer who currently lives in the San Francisco Bay Area. For a discography and more information on Bruce, visit www.brucekaphan.com.
http://tinyurl.com/ISRC-Tutorial http://www.aarcroyalties.com http://www.soundexchange.com http://www.zentlaw.com http://www.brucekaphan.com
Recording - June 2010

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