Recorded Music Broadcasting: Mmc Referral

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asked Her Majesty's Government:Whether they intend to take any action over the practice of collective licensing of the use of recorded music for broadcast and performance.

As part of its general concern over uncompetitive practices, the Government have today referred to the Monopolies and Mergers Commission certain practices in the collective licensing of public performance and broadcasting of such recordings.The reference has been made jointly by the Secretary of State for the Home Department and myself in exercise of the powers conferred by Section 78 of the Fair Trading Act 1973. It requires the MMC to submit to us a report on the general effect on the public interest of specified practices.These practices are those of:

(a) owners of copyright in sound recordings of assigning their public performance and broadcasting rights in such recordings to a collective licensing body; and

(b) any such body making it a condition of granting copyright licences in respect of such recordings

(i) that the licensee pay royalties at the current rates;

(ii) that the rates are calculated in accordance with a common tariff;

(iii) that the licensee be restricted in the number or proportion of broadcasting hours during which the recordings may be broadcast.

We anticipate that the MMC will be able to make their report by the middle of October this year.

Volume 495: debated on Wednesday 30 March 1988