A group of top UK musicians including Robbie Williams, The Verve and David Gilmour have banded as the Featured Artists Coalition to campaign for better deals and more progressive laws for all artists.
"No one knows what the structure of the music industry will look like in future. But all artists face the same challenges in today’s digital world, so we need to speak with one voice to help artists strike a new bargain with record companies, digital distributors and others. Together, the Featured Artists’ Coalition will stand up for all artists by engaging with government, music and technology companies, and collection societies, arguing for fair play and, where necessary, exposing unfair practices."
Artists retaining ownership of their work is at the center the group's goals, and the first phase of their campaign encourages others to sign on to a charter "for fair play in the digital age". The Coalition will begin by focusing on six areas where it is seeking change:
- An agreement by the music industry that artists should receive fair compensation whenever their business partners receive an economic return from the exploitation of the artists’ work.
- All transfers of copyright should be by license rather than by assignment, and limited to 35 years.
- The making available right should be monetized on behalf of featured artistes and all other performers.
- Copyright owners to be obliged to follow a ‘use it or lose it’ approach to the copyrights they control.
- The rights for performers should be the same as those for authors (songwriters, lyricists and composers).
- A change to UK copyright law which will end the commercial exploitation of unlicensed music purporting to be used in conjunction with ‘critical reviews’.
