IMRO Limited Online Exploitation Licence (2 Viewers)

[SONYMEGADRIVE]

a lot of this seems very unclear. perhaps some of the IMRO people who post on thumped can clarify the confusing aspects of this legislation

aye - explain yourself Eleanor McEvoy!

 

[taubstumm]

this is idiotic. it'd be nice if techcrunch or one of the other big tech/internet blogs picked this up -- it might embarrass imro into backing off.

are any other music rights organisations doing this elsewhere -- in the uk or the rest of europe -- or is this a solo run by imro?

it's not like they're going to get a wad of cash from pitchfork and the like for irish musicians. the net outcome will be a chilling effect on discussion of irish music online.

 

[Unicron]

this is idiotic. it'd be nice if techcrunch or one of the other big tech/internet blogs picked this up -- it might embarrass imro into backing off.

It's covered in the guardian today: http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2010/apr/29/irish-music-blogs-under-attack

 

[cletus_buckley]

Im still convinced its all a big joke and if not, at least they got the name right.

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[taubstumm]

It's covered in the guardian today: http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2010/apr/29/irish-music-blogs-under-attack

from that article:

So far, this hasn't been a problem. For better or for worse, publishing groups were sleeping giants – leaving spats with music bloggers to the recording industry associations. Now, bolstered by massive licensing deals like IMRO's recent agreement with YouTube, they're awakening to possible revenues – and dispatching the lawyers.

is that a typo? or did i miss something here? what massive deal does imro have with youtube?

 

[Unicron]

from that article:



is that a typo? or did i miss something here? what massive deal does imro have with youtube?

From: http://www.imro.ie/imro_article/imromcpsi-and-youtube-sign-licensing-deal

IMRO/MCPSI and YouTube Sign a Licensing Deal

Sunday, 28 March 2010
Songwriters, composers and the YouTube community benefit as IMRO/MCPSI licence agreed.

IMRO/MCPSI and YouTube announced that they have signed a licence agreement that covers music included in videos streamed in Ireland via the online video platform. The licence covers the period until the end of 2012. As a result of the agreement the songwriters, composers and music publisher members that IMRO/MCPSI represents will be rewarded when their music is used.
“In the digital sphere where there have been few boundaries in the widespread distribution of music content in recent years the essential role that music creators provide in the value chain together with their underlying rights are important factors that have been very often overlooked and undervalued. IMRO/MCPSI is pleased to have signed this agreement with YouTube as it ensures that music creators rights are protected and that end users will continue to have access to the plethora of music content available on the YouTube service here in Ireland. We are happy to work in partnership with YouTube to ensure that the music creators that we represent continue to benefit from this successful online service”. Victor Finn, Chief Executive IMRO.

Donagh O'Malley, YouTube said: "We've been working hard to forge relationships that allow YouTube users to enjoy their favourite songs and discover new music on the site. We are extremely pleased to have reached an agreement with IMRO/MCPSI to help their members earn revenue and to enable new musical talents to emerge".

 

[Space]

Does that mean that I can register with IMRO put a song on youtube then keep playing it over and over again and get paid for it?

 

[Scientician 0.8]

Does that mean that I can register with IMRO put a song on youtube then keep playing it over and over again and get paid for it?

If you are seriously considering something like that to generate an income try this website https://www.mturk.com/mturk/welcome

 

[egg_]

Ay, I'm actually paying it myself for preview clips on my kids music shop. What I was getting at though is this licence is not the only one available - it's the "Limited Online Exploitation Licence" and once you go over a certain income threshold you pay a fee that's a % of your income for a licence with a different name. If the threshold was reset to zero and everyone had to pay the full licence then anyone with no income would pay nothing

 

[pete]

I set up thumped.com for one reason: to try to publicise independent / underground irish music. It's been going 11 years now, 9 of which it operated at a (sometimes considerable) loss. Sure, I'm running ads on the site but there's no way I'd consider it a commercial venture. I haven't done last year's "accounts" yet, but in 2008 it turned a small profit (just enough to cover my internet bills) almost by accident. 2009 and 2010 should be better but I won't be retiring *quite* yet.

I've always thought of mp3 hosting for bands as a barter system kind of deal. Sure, the mp3 might bring in a bit of extra traffic, but the site gets up to 100,000 unique viewers and anywhere between 450,000 and 1 million page views a month - with or without mp3s. On almost every one of those hundreds of thousands of pages viewed every month there's a small piece about the band with the latest mp3 that's been added to the site and a link back to the page the mp3 is on.

The pages containing the three most recently hosted mp3s (all of which are hosted at the bands' request) accounted for a total of 0.189% of all pageviews for the first four months of the year. By extension, less than one fifth of one percent of revenue generated by the site is attributable to those three mp3s.

So who's benefitting the most here? Who's 'exploiting' who? I haven't been contacted by IMRO (yet?) but if I am, I'm not sure which payment band the site would fall under, although any of them would make a serious dent in the site's finances.

Not that it matters - they won't be getting a penny from me as I'll just stop posting mp3s from any IMRO-registered bands. I think I'll live.

 

[quackster]

Re: IMRO Limited Online Exploitation Licence

I'd be interested to know if they'd come after you if you specifically removed IMRO registered bands from your site.
I know for a fact that for a commercial premises there is no way you could argue that kind of case. If you play any music at all, even if it's only the occasional jingle on talk radio, then you are liable for the same fee as someone playing music 24/7.
I'm sure all the IMRO registered bands are getting such fat checks from them that they hardly care about whether piddly little thumped takes down the links to their tracks

 

[Anthony]

Or you could put embedded soundcloud files on the site and you're grand.

 

[Anthony]

..and IMRO registered bands means almost every band in the world since IMRO does the collection in Ireland for everyone. oh except the punx.

 

[Scientician 0.8]

I'm not in IMRO, so post more of my stuff.

 

[aoboa]

IMRO only collect for songs registered with them - not for a bands entire catalogue.

 

[jcdonaggio]

a lot of this seems very unclear. perhaps some of the IMRO people who post on thumped can clarify the confusing aspects of this legislation

it's not my area, so its not my place to comment on it directly, nor do I want to, but there's an FAQ in the works which should answer a lot of the questions.

 

[Vinnie]

I'd quit IMRO over this but then how would I be able to afford my bi-monthly two thirds of a text message? In anyways, if it comes down to it I'd say most bands who avail of Thumped would be willing to contribute towards a licence should Pete decide to go down that route.

 

[shower another shower]

Milan Panic should kick in the bulk of it.

 

[ann post]

I'd quit IMRO over this but then how would I be able to afford my bi-monthly two thirds of a text message? In anyways, if it comes down to it I'd say most bands who avail of Thumped would be willing to contribute towards a licence should Pete decide to go down that route.

i've been saying since 2 o clock yesterday that all that has to be done is one license is bought for the whole country - ideally larger blogs (who have been adamant about being willing to pay) would fit larger proportions of the bill and the more home brew guys pay a fiver. its really not that difficult but the past 24 hours seem to have been based on people bringing up problems rather then solutions.

Ireland is being used as a test bed for international music law (see piratebay/eircom) for quite a while so far as i'm concerned, and we need to set the example on how to tell the old industry to fuck the fuck off.

 

[GO]

Milan Panic should kick in the bulk of it.

HAAAAAAAA