BASCA chairman Simon Darlow used his opening address at the Ivors to attack companies using safe harbour legislation to avoid paying for music.
His comments follow PRS for Music CEO Robert Ashcroft’s address at the organisation’s AGM earlier this week also calling out organisations abusing safe harbour.
In his introductory speech Simon stated that while streaming was becoming the main method of music consumption, it is not yet proven to be a viable source of income for songwriters and composers.
He said: ‘This is largely because some companies exploit safe harbour legislation to avoid paying a fair value for music and thereby compete unfairly with those that do. For those of you here today whose search engines provide links to software that enable people to steal songs from a service that is only licensed to stream, you are undermining the value of our music.
‘For any of you whose company maintains that it has to pay only if it monitises our works, you too are undermining the value of our music. For any others out there who remain unlicensed, and rely on notice and takedown, you are accessories to the theft of our music. All of you are making it virtually impossible for licenced businesses to thrive and grow. All of you are helping to kill songwriting and composition.’
He urged writers, publishers and legitimate streaming services to work together to ensure music creators was properly rewarded for their efforts.
Read the full list of winners from this year’s Ivor Novello Awards.
His comments follow PRS for Music CEO Robert Ashcroft’s address at the organisation’s AGM earlier this week also calling out organisations abusing safe harbour.
In his introductory speech Simon stated that while streaming was becoming the main method of music consumption, it is not yet proven to be a viable source of income for songwriters and composers.
He said: ‘This is largely because some companies exploit safe harbour legislation to avoid paying a fair value for music and thereby compete unfairly with those that do. For those of you here today whose search engines provide links to software that enable people to steal songs from a service that is only licensed to stream, you are undermining the value of our music.
‘For any of you whose company maintains that it has to pay only if it monitises our works, you too are undermining the value of our music. For any others out there who remain unlicensed, and rely on notice and takedown, you are accessories to the theft of our music. All of you are making it virtually impossible for licenced businesses to thrive and grow. All of you are helping to kill songwriting and composition.’
He urged writers, publishers and legitimate streaming services to work together to ensure music creators was properly rewarded for their efforts.
Read the full list of winners from this year’s Ivor Novello Awards.
