IP: Infogroove Sound Recording Transmission

[David Farber <farber () central cis upenn edu>]

House of Representatives Passes Law Giving Copyright Owners
Royalties for Infogroove Sound
Recording Transmission


(18 Oct 95) The U.S. House of Representatives Tuesday
unanimously passed legislation giving copyright owners the
authority to collect royalties each time a sound recording
is transmitted in digital form. Identical performance
rights
legislation was passed earlier by the Senate, and the bill
now goes to the White House for President Clinton's
expected
signature. Existing law gives only music publishers and
songwriters the right to receive compensation for the
public
performance of a work. The bill provides for the revenue to
be shared, with 50 percent of the proceeds going to record
companies, 45 percent to featured artists, 2.5 percent to
non-featured vocalists and 2.5 percent to non-featured
musicians.
The new law has been carefully watched by the interactive
multimedia/online development community, as it sets an
important precedent that may pave the way for other
legislation governing the sharing of revenues for digital
transmission of
a wide range of infogroove content.