Playlists At Dawn : IMRO vs DM.ie
Bloody hell, it’s all kicking off with IMRO vs DownloadMusic.ie….
As outlined on Fr. Damo’s blog:
It seems DownloadMusic.ie will get sued into non-existence if they don’t pay IMRO a license fee for people to be able to download music from their site. No matter if they are already dealing direct with the artist or not. It seems once you are in IMRO you automatically give them the right to be your money collector.
Read the debates on DownloadMusic.ie and Damien Mulley blogs. It’s interesting to read the responses from musicians regarding their rights to stream or sell music from social networking/personal websites….
April 24th, 2008 at 11:16 am
unfortunately for DM.ie, a contract is a contract and should an act have an outstanding agreement with IMRO pre-DM.ie, then I don’t see what he’s at legally.
it gets interesting though with artists that have signed with DM/ie first and then approached IMRO.
i’ve nothing against johnny - if fact i think DM.ie is a wonderful creation for unsigned bands - but the details with regards to this seem ill-thought out
April 24th, 2008 at 11:30 am
I’ve always wondered about the process of collecting royalties for small acts and how the system works in conjunction with streaming sites.
This is a business matter between two companies and the contractual side of things are actually an interesting example for artists to witness how royalty collection works.
It’s kind of odd because DM.ie is an appreciated resource and it might look as if they’ve been attacked. However IMRO is there to collect revenue exert rights, which is exactly what’s happening now…
April 24th, 2008 at 11:37 am
to be honest, i think the “attacked” impression is one that’s being laid solely johnny (I too have had e-mails off of him about it), but lots of artists signed lots of legally binding contracts for money collection in this territory, which makes it difficult to how this can be fought successfully.
one thing that did click with me about this is when you get the IMRO contract, it comes in nice booklet with plenty of information, etc… but with things like DM.ie, online contracts for the most part are simply not read, so there’s also an element of people signing something they might necessarily have read
April 24th, 2008 at 12:09 pm
Apparently the IMRO forms are very difficult but there’s a comprehensive walk-through on the site…for registered members!
April 24th, 2008 at 12:16 pm
Hi,
I’d like to disagree on the point about IMRO sending out a ‘nice booklet with plenty of information’.
IMRO send out a legal document entitled ‘Assignment by Writer’. When the artist signs this, they assign exclusive and sole control of the ‘Performing Right’ to IMRO.
However, the ‘Performing Right’ is not defined in the document. Instead, the document refers the artist to IMRO’s Articles of Association for a definition, which are not included in the pack.
Nor are the Articles available on IMRO’s website. In fact, you have to contract IMRO to get a copy.
When you finally do, and check the definitions, you see that the right to make the music available on the Internet is part of the Performing Right.
This is in stark contrast to PRS-MCPS in the UK. There entire member agreement, including the legal document, is available online. This document contains all necessary definitions, and crucially, an annex, that clearly states that only a *non-exclusive* assignment in made in relation to online rights. This annex was inserted as far back as 2001.
The purpose of this is to allow artists enter into Direct Licensing agreements with web site where they can collect royalties directly.
We don’t see any reason why IMRO’s membership agreement should be different.
Garreth
downloadmusic.ie
April 24th, 2008 at 1:53 pm
fair enough, but i seemed to be able to get the info fine - but then again i suppose if the information isn’t obvious it can be a bit of a pain to have to search for it
imro like most things in irish music are backward anyway
April 24th, 2008 at 8:35 pm
the walkthrough on the site in the member’s area is for forms that you only use when you are a member. it’s just been phrased wrong. the other info was made available recently i think, when we checked it out anyway.
also, you do get 2 little booklets sent out to you. explains everything. lots of legal terms but it makes sense. it costs about 100quid to join PRS. Would take most of us a long time to make that back. IMRO are free. Same job done. Kudos.
April 28th, 2008 at 9:27 am
IMRO RULES AND REGULATIONS OF THE IRISH MUSIC RIGHTS ORGANISATION LIMITED - (incorporating all amendments up to and including 13th February 2002)
MEMORANDUM AND ARTICLES OF ASSOCIATION OF THE IRISH MUSIC RIGHTS ORGANISATION LIMITED - (incorporating all amendments up to and including 15th September 2004)
Visit : http://www.imro.ie/about/documents_archive.shtml
April 28th, 2008 at 10:59 am
When I first got the forms I wasn’t sure exactly what was for what but I gave IMRO a quick call and they explained it all in a few minutes.
April 28th, 2008 at 3:22 pm
What I find difficult is that people sign them without knowing what they mean which is why you should ALWAYS get independent legal advice from a expert.