WASHINGTON — In a filing to the United States Copyright Office, the Future of Music Coalition today proposed dramatic reforms to the Recording Industry Association of America’s (RIAA) SoundExchange proposal. These comments represent a proactive effort to help artists and labels maximize income and minimize litigation and administrative expenses.

“We have consistently challenged the idea of an organization started and essentially operated by the RIAA being the sole collection and distribution point for the digital royalty. Competition in this marketplace is critical. But in the absence of competition, these proposed reforms at least begin to address some of artists’ concerns about the viability of SoundExchange,” said FMC Executive Director Jenny Toomey.

“It’s easy to stand on the sidelines and gripe,” said FMC General Counsel Walter McDonough. “We are trying, however, to promote specific, reasonable reforms that will, in the long run, benefit artists and labels. We look forward to working with the Copyright Office and the SoundExchange board to further discuss these proposals.”

The FMC made three recommendations:

• first, a clarification as to the proposed forty-five (45%) percent direct payment to recording artists of DPRSRA monies;

• second, the need to establish a “protocol” to allocate such monies; and

• third, the establishment of procedures pursuant to the collection and ownership of data.

Specifically, the FMC suggested that:

• each record company that is a member of Sound Exchange agree that DPRSRA monies payable to artists for any and all statutory licenses would be paid directly to artists and would, therefore, be non-recoupable;

• all so-called “major” record labels would be members of Sound Exchange;

• the structure of Sound Exchange have recording artists and labels each controlling an equal number of elected board seats; and

• there be a guarantee that both artists and labels will have equal access to all data collected by Sound Exchange in addition to approving all methods of data collection.

The Future of Music Coalition (www.futureofmusic.org) is a not-for-profit think tank that examines music/technology issues in an effort to identify technologies, business models and policies that benefit artists and citizens. The Coalition sponsors the annual Future of Music Policy Conference in Washington, DC, performs original research, appears at conferences and in the media, and is launching a speaking tour of college campuses this fall.

For a PDF of the document filed, click here.