Overview
- Japan's Cabinet, which approved the copyright amendment Friday, would create a new 'record performance/transmission right' so singers, performers and record producers earn fees when recordings play as background music in commercial spaces.
- Under the current setup, collecting societies such as JASRAC charge venues for BGM but pay those royalties only to songwriters and composers, not to performers or record makers.
- The government plans to pass the bill in the current Diet session and set the details later, with enforcement slated within three years of promulgation to finalize fee levels, collection methods and public guidance.
- Cafes, restaurants, hotels and shopping centers would take on new costs once they must pay for performer rights when they use recorded music as BGM.
- More than 140 countries already pay performers for public use of recordings, and among OECD members only Japan and the United States had not; once Japan adopts the system, reciprocity would allow Japanese artists to collect when their music is played overseas.