RAAP vs PPI: another win for performers, but war isn’t over yet

Recorded Artists Actors Performers (RAAP) and PPI (Irish labels’ collective) have been in a legal war for years now. In Ireland, PPI collects all neighboring rights remuneration on behalf of performers and labels. RAAP receives from PPI the royalties due to performers. In accordance with Irish copyright law, RAAP has always paid out to artists who recorded in a Rome Convention (RC) country or are RC citizens. However, PPI also collects royalties for non-qualifying (e.g. US) recordings and 100% of these monies have traditionally been paid by them to record labels (rather than 50% to the record label and 50% to RAAP). RAAP at some point contested this stating any performer shares (including for US tracks) should be paid to RAAP rather than the record label. PPI having everything to lose and nothing to gain dug its heels in the sand. The lawsuit that followed travelled from the Irish Courts to the EU Courts and back to the Irish Courts. All cases proved PPI wrong. However, PPI refused to give up and last week there was another session, this time in the Irish Court of Appeal. Again, PPI didn’t get their way. Instead, the court in fact upheld previous rulings that the right to equitable remuneration under EU legislation must be granted both to EU performers and record labels AND to those who are nationals of other WPPT signatories (the US are a WPPT-signatory). Further it was confirmed once again that both artists and record labels should share in neighboring rights income. It is more than likely that PPI as a last ditch effort will go to Ireland’s Supreme Court. Perhaps it hopes to drag the legal process until new EU legislation (currently lobbied for) will reverse the EU court’s ruling on neighboring rights. Bear in mind the Irish copyright law has still not been changed to reflect the EU court’s rulings, so it seems US artists will have to wait before getting paid Irish neighboring rights monies. 

More info: https://lnkd.in/eceRFPHi #musicindustry #neighboringrights #artists #zanoise