MCPS-PRS podcasting licence

3 March 2006

The MCPS-PRS Alliance has launched a
new licensing solution for music podcasters

The joint MCPS and PRS scheme allows podcasters access to the global repertoire of musical works represented by the Alliance – some ten million musical works – granting the necessary writer/publisher permissions for inclusion of their works within the podcast.
The licence is the first serious attempt by a European collecting society to support the growth of music podcasting.

Steve Porter, MCPS-PRS Alliance MD, said: ‘Podcasting has really exploded into life over the past six months. It has quickly moved from the efforts of a few hobbyists into an accepted method of distributing content. We are introducing this licence as quickly as possible to enable music podcasters to trade legitimately over the next year.’

The licence is being made available until the end of 2006, during which time both podcasters and the Alliance will learn more about each other’s needs. A more complete scheme is planned for launch in early 2007.

The royalty rate for the Alliance Music Podcast Scheme will be the greater of 12% of gross revenue or the minimum fee per track downloaded as part of the podcast: full-track 1.5p; half-track (less than 50% by duration) 0.75p.

A licence to cover the sound recording rights of independent record companies was also recently announced by AIM, the UK’s Association of Independent Music.

Alison Wenham, Chairman and Chief Executive of AIM, said: ‘We welcome this move by the Alliance, ensuring that podcasters are able to operate with ease and with legitimate licences in place. AIM's own trial licence has attracted great interest and with tracks from companies such as Beggars Group, Breastfed, Cherry Red, Jungle and V2, this should give plenty of choice to podcasters.’

Podcasts that generate low levels of revenue and usage are also catered for by the Alliance. Podcasting is being incorporated into the updated Limited Online Exploitation Licence (LOEL) being launched in the second quarter of 2006, where royalty rates begin from as little as £50 a quarter.

Non-music podcasts (e.g. predominantly speech with very little music) will be licensed under a new on-demand scheme for non-music services which is being prepared for launch at the end of April 2006.



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More details of the new Alliance Music Podcast Scheme attached.

CONTACT: Adrian Crookes 020 7306 4230 press@mcps-prs-alliance.co.uk



The MCPS-PRS Alliance
MCPS and PRS are the UK collecting societies that ensure composers, songwriters and publishers are paid royalties when their music is used: from live performance to TV and radio, CDs to DVDs, downloads, streams and everything in between. Royalties create a future for music by supporting creators while they continue to write. MCPS and PRS are committed to delivering maximum royalties and world-class service. They work together in an operational alliance to get the best value for the music use of composers and songwriters everywhere. The Alliance is committed to working with partners throughout Europe and the world to build new platforms that simplify the licensing music. www.mcps-prs-alliance.co.uk



MCPS-PRS Alliance Music Podcast Scheme rules
Licence: Joint MCPS/PRS

Services Licensed: Podcasts. MCPS/PRS definition: a podcast is a digital recording of an audio or audio-visual programme, made available on the Internet for downloading to a personal player. The components (e.g. tracks) of the programme appear in a fixed configuration and cannot be disaggregated. Most podcasts are permanent and do not have DRM protection.

Licensee: Music Service Provider. But note that in the case where iTunes is simply acting as a search engine for podcasts, we will not license iTunes, but instead will treat the podcast provider as the licensee.

Term: From March 1 2006 to 31 December 2006.

Non-precedential Fees: Greater of 12% of revenue or the minimum fee per track downloaded as part of the podcast.

In the absence of technical DRM being applied to the podcast, the MCPS-PRS Alliance requires the licensee to comply with the following conditions, designed to protect the value of the music contained in the podcast by limitimg the possibilities of disaggregation leading to the ripping of separate tracks.

Podcaster shall:

• obscure at least 10 (ten) seconds at the beginning and end of each individual track played in a podcast with speech or a station ID;
• deliver podcasts only in their entirety, not individual tracks or portions of a podcast;
• ensure that music constitutes no more than 80% of the total length of any Programme;
• ensure that the podcast is at least 15 minutes in length; and
• take all reasonable steps to ensure that individual tracks within a podcast are not capable of being ripped and that metadata or other information or data transmitted or downloaded by the podcaster is not used to identify recordings for download from unauthorised databases or sites.
  

Podcaster shall not:

• produce podcasts that contain recordings from a single artist or that have more than 30% of the musical works written by the same composer or writing partnership;
• play any individual track more than once in any single Programme;
• provide an electronic guide to the podcast which contains tracks played and corresponding times;
• insert any flags or other markers in the podcast which may directly indicate or which may be used to indirectly infer the start and end point of tracks or segments of copyright content;
• incorporate repertoire works into advertising; or
• use the Repertoire in such a way as may be taken to imply that any goods or services are endorsed, advertised or associated with the Repertoire or any artist whose performance is contained on the Repertoire or any other party who owns rights in connection with the Repertoire.
  

Exclusions: The Alliance Music Podcasting Licence will not cover the reproduction of repertoire or reference thereto which the Licensee ought reasonably consider to be derogatory of or demeaning or insulting to the composer(s) or author(s) or artist(s). If a repertoire work is used in such a way, such use shall be unlicensed under the terms of the Music Podcasting Licence and it may be subject to takedown.