Copyright and music publishing in the UK
Authors: Towse, R.
Pages: 133-151
ISBN: 9783319406374
DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-40637-4_8
Abstract:© Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2016.The chapter investigates the role of copyright in the economic development of music publishing in the UK from a historical perspective. Peacock and Weir’s 1975 book, The Composer in the Market Place has been a strong influence on the research on the economic survival of music publishing over its long existence. There is little economic literature specifically on music publishing as an industry, though there is a useful related literature on composers and their publishers. The chapter looks at the development of copyright law in musical works (which differs significantly from that in literary works) and its effect on the market for published music. It shows how music publishers adapted to the new streams of royalty revenue arising from changes in consumption as successive technologies for access to music were adopted; these changes in turn occasioned the revisions of copyright law. The historical approach reminds us that disruptive technologies in the music industry are nothing new. What this research shows is that in the early twentieth century, music publishers survived the effect on the market for published music of sound recording and radio by switching from the longestablished sales model to that of rights management. Updated copyright law supported the change of business model but it was not the motivating force. This conclusion has resonance for the similar switch being adopted today by other creative industries in adapting to digitisation.
Source: Scopus
Copyright and music publishing in the UK
Authors: Towse, R.
Pages: 133-151
DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-40637-4_8
Abstract:The chapter investigates the role of copyright in the economic development of music publishing in the UK from a historical perspective. Peacock and Weir’s 1975 book, The Composer in the Market Place has been a strong influence on the research on the economic survival of music publishing over its long existence. There is little economic literature specifically on music publishing as an industry, though there is a useful related literature on composers and their publishers. The chapter looks at the development of copyright law in musical works (which differs significantly from that in literary works) and its effect on the market for published music. It shows how music publishers adapted to the new streams of royalty revenue arising from changes in consumption as successive technologies for access to music were adopted; these changes in turn occasioned the revisions of copyright law. The historical approach reminds us that disruptive technologies in the music industry are nothing new. What this research shows is that in the early twentieth century, music publishers survived the effect on the market for published music of sound recording and radio by switching from the longestablished sales model to that of rights management. Updated copyright law supported the change of business model but it was not the motivating force. This conclusion has resonance for the similar switch being adopted today by other creative industries in adapting to digitisation.
Source: Scopus
‘Copyright and Music Publishing in the UK’
Authors: Towse, R.
Editors: Rizzo, I. and Towse, R.
Pages: 133-152
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 978-3-319-40635-0
Source: Manual