Tag: Crispin Hunt

The @ArtistRights Watch Podcast: Episode 1: The Frozen Mechanicals Crisis with Guest @CrispinHunt

Nik Patel, David Lowery, and Chris Castle feature in this podcast where they discuss the current issues of artists’ rights in the music industry. Find the Artist Rights Watch on your favorite podcast platform here https://linktr.ee/artistrightswatchpod Please subscribe, rate and share!

On the first episode of the Artist Rights Watch, Nik Patel, David Lowery, and Chris Castle sit down with Ivors Academy Chair, Crispin Hunt to talk about the frozen mechanical royalties crisis currently playing out in the United States and how it threatens UK songwriters and indeed songwriters around the world.

Crispin gives us his invaluable analysis of how the frozen mechanicals crisis affects songwriters around the world and the highly effective #brokenrecord and #fixstreaming campaigns that Ivors Academy supports in the UK that has lead to a parliamentary inquiry and legislation introduced in the UK Parliament.

The “frozen mechanicals” crisis is rooted in a private deal between big publishers and their big label affiliates to essentially continue the freeze on the already-frozen U.S. mechanical royalty rate paid by the record companies for CDs, vinyl and permanent downloads. The private deal freezes the rate for another five years but does not even account for inflation. Increasing the royalty rate for inflation, does not actually increase songwriter buying power.

The major publishers and labels have asked the Copyright Royalty Board in the US to make their private deal the law and apply that frozen rate to everyone.

In the past, the music industry has experienced a $0.02 mechanical royalty rate that lasted for 70 years, and with the current mechanical royalty rate of $0.091 being set in 2006, advocates hope it’s not a repeat of the past.

In this Artist Rights Watch episode, we cover its numerous implications and consequences such as controlled compositions clauses, the Copyright Royalty Board, CPI and fixed increases, how the UK compares, and potential resolutions.

Below are some links for further reading on frozen mechanicals and Crispin Hunt:

Take the Artist Rights Watch Survey on Mechanical Royalties

Controlled Compositions Clauses and Frozen Mechanicals. Chris Castle

Controlled Compositions Clauses and Frozen Mechanicals

What Would @TaylorSwift13 and Eddie @cue Do? One Solution to the Frozen Mechanical Problem. Chris Castle

What Would @TaylorSwift13 and Eddie @cue Do? One solution to the frozen mechanical problem

The Trichordist posts on frozen mechanicals

https://thetrichordist.com/category/frozen-mechanicals/

The Ivors Academy Joins the No Frozen Mechanicals Campaign

https://thetrichordist.com/2021/06/07/the-ivors-academy-joins-the-no-frozen-mechanicals-campaign/

Year-End 2020 RIAA Revenue Statistics

Click to access 2020-Year-End-Music-Industry-Revenue-Report.pdf

Crispin Hunt

Crispin Hunt

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@crispinhunt: A Semi-Famous Musician Runs For Office in Brussels (Guest Column)

[Editor Charlie sez:  We should all be so lucky that Crispin Hunt should be seated as a Member of the European Parliament!]

Brexit leers menacingly across Europe, pregnant with risk. Populists are peddling their nostalgic fairytale about making Britain great again. The country is a global laughing stock. Is it time for Brit-pop to take on British populism?

I decided the answer was yes — so I’m taking a break from songwriting and trying my hand at wrong-righting. I’ve decided to run for European Parliament.

Read the post on Billboard

@crispinhunt: Critics of Article 13 are Weaving a Narrative with No Relationship to Fact

[An excellent post by songwriter and BASCA chair Crispin Hunt on the remarkable disinformation campaign being waged by legacy tech companies against safe harbor reform in Europe.]

A recent article by Rhett Jones, which appeared in Gizmodo, perfectly encapsulated the feverish disinformation campaign around Article 13 being undertaken by US tech companies and their minions. So I thought it would be worth taking a few minutes to help Parliamentarians to closely examine it.

Let’s start with the title: The End of All That’s Good and Pure About the Internet.

One might be forgiven for thinking that was written ten years ago when the promise of the internet was still bright – and not blighted by things like revenge porn, doxing, phishing, sex trafficking of minors, rampant theft, fake news, interference in elections, massive privacy violations, etc.

But no, Rhett Jones, and the entire campaign against Article 13, is very much premised on this idea that the internet as we know it is “good and pure,” and that any change to its governance would end this wondrous medium.

Read the post on Music Business Worldwide

@stuartdredge: @BASCA_UK @CrispinHunt “Rules Won’t Break the Internet, they’ll Mend It”

YouTube and Facebook were squarely in the sights of Crispin Hunt, chairman of the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors (BASCA), as he delivered the opening address at yesterday’s Ivor Novello Awards in London.

“I want to thank YouTube and Facebook for cracking the funniest joke online: the one where they pretend they’re just a dumb pipe and not the biggest and best streaming services on the planet. You guys! You’re killing us… literally!” said Hunt.

However, he also praised three audio-streaming services for the role they’re playing in the music industry.

“On the other hand, I want to thank Apple and Spotify for teaching us how to sell music that isn’t trapped in plastic. And hopefully for saving the music industry in the process,” said Hunt.

“And let’s not forget Deezer for trying out a user-centric payment model, so that money from death-metal fans actually goes to death-metal bands, and not to Taylor Swift and Ed Sheeran. Ed and Taylor don’t need anybody else’s money, they’re quite brilliant enough. We should all join Deezer now!”

Read the post on MusicAlly