Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 8 July 2021
147. Deputy Neale Richmond asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment if he has considered engaging with an organisation (details supplied) regarding the royalties received by musicians when their songs are streamed online or played on the radio; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [37017/21]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe main source of copyright legislation in Ireland is the Copyright and Related Rights Act 2000 (as amended) (the CRRA). The CRRA provides the means for copyright holders to enter into license agreements with Collective Management Organisations (CMOs) to represent their rights in relation to the public use of their copyright protected works. These organisations are responsible for the collection of royalties and for the distribution of these royalties to their members. CMO’s operate under licence obtained from the Controller of Intellectual Property, which is renewable annually.
The Digital Single Market Directive 2019/790 was negotiated and agreed under the Digital Single Market strategy between September 2016 and May 2019. The intention of the Directive is to craft modern copyright legislation to make it responsive to the needs of European citizens in an increasingly digitalised society.
The Directive contains provisions aimed at ensuring greater rights for rightsholders, such as musicians and songwriters. The objective of Article 17 is to formalise arrangements between rightsholders and online platforms when copyrighted material is circulated by users of these platforms.
In addition, a series of further articles will allow rightsholders to receive regular information on the use of their material from the online platform, an opportunity to re-adjust contracts when remuneration originally agreed turns out to be disproportionately low based on this information and to have access to a dispute resolution mechanism (Articles 19-22).
In 2019, my Department conducted a series of public consultations, seeking the views of interested stakeholders on how the Directive’s provisions should be applied in the context of Irish law. The organisation in question participated in four separate consultations, which covered all substantive aspects of the Directive, and its views, as well as those from other stakeholders, were taken into account when the Statutory Instrument that transposes the Directive into national law was being prepared.
In May 2021, my Department produced an Information Note providing an update and offering additional clarity on the approach to the transposition of the Directive and circulated it to stakeholders, including the organisation in question. This Information Note is also currently available on my Department’s website. The transposing Statutory Instrument is currently being finalised and the intention is that it will be signed in the coming weeks.
