How to Make a Living from Music
67
existing authors or related rights CMOs, after which the income is distributed to the various right holders.
Most EU Member States have a system of home-copying levies which generate approximately US$1 billion per year for authors, performers, publishers and phonogram producers. The levies are usually set in the one to four percent dealer price range for media and/or recording equipment. Within the EU, the UK, Ireland and Luxembourg are notable exceptions where no home copying levies exist, and this considerably disadvantages authors, performers, publishers and phonogram producers in those territories. Even so, authors and performers in countries where the levies do not exist may receive home copying levies income in countries where they do exist, if their national CMO is able to claim it.
There is a school of thought which is critical of the concept of home copying levies. If, for example, someone purchased a blank CDR and used it to store personal holiday photographs, why should he/she pay a levy, the proceeds of which go to music authors, performers, publishers and phonogram producers? Many in the music industry would answer this objection by saying that home copying levies are rough justice, but that it is far better to have rough justice than to have no justice. In some countries, such as Germany, home copying levies provide a substantial income stream for authors and performers. WIPO publishes a free comprehensive International Survey on Private Copying each year which can be downloaded as a PDF from the WIPO website (www.wipo.int).
In the developing world, home copying income can account for over 50% of all related rights CMO income in some countries.