ClearOne Digital Media - Manual (Page 39)

PUBLISHING RIGHTS
The music publisher is the entity that holds the copyright in a song. That is, the piece of
music itself not the paper on which it is printed or the recording on which it is performed.
Anyone who wishes to record a song, perform a song or synchronize a song in a motion
picture film or television program (for example), must secure a license from the music
publisher and pay either a statutory royalty or a negotiated fee or royalty, whichever the case
may be.
PUBLIC PERFORMANCE RIGHTS
In the United States of America nearly all public performances of music are licensed through
ASCAP, BMI or SESAC. For the most part, all “professional” American songwriters belong to
one or the other of these societies. Since the societies and the music publishers derive their
rights exclusively from their affiliated writers, virtually all music publishers have companies
belonging to all three societies. Membership is these societies are open to anyone who has
had a musical composition commercially recorded and/or published.
The Copyright Act as amended in 1976 granted the copyright owner (songwriter or music
publisher as the case may be) the exclusive right to license the performance of a musical
composition in public, whether or not for profit.
CONSUMER TECHNOLOGY BILL OF RIGHTS
On October 17th, 2002 Congress introduced legislation designed to recognize the rights
of consumers to use copyright protected works, and for other purposes. Which effectively
stated that it is the Sense of the Congress that United States copyright law should not
prohibit a consumer of information or entertainment content distributed via electronic media
from engaging in the reasonable, personal, and noncommercial exercise of the six rights
described in the next section with respect to works that the consumer has legally acquired.
THE SIX CONSUMER RIGHTS
1 . The right to record legally acquired video or audio for later viewing or listening (popularly
referred to as `time-shifting’).
2 . The right to use legally acquired content in different places (popularly referred to as
`space-shifting’).
3 . The right to archive or make backup copies of legally acquired content for use in the
event that the original copies are destroyed.
pg 39 StreamNet Digital Media and System Design Reference Guide
Public Performance Rights