In celebration of its Annual General Meeting, the Filipinas
Copyright Licensing Society, Inc. (FILCOLS) invited Bruce Funkhouser of the
Copyright Clearance Center (
http://www.copyright.com/)
and Ceasar Apostol of the Filipino Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers
(
http://www.filscap.com.ph/) to speak
on the best practices in the distribution of royalties to rightsholders. The special
event was held last 14 September 2012 during the 33
rd Manila
International Book Fair held at the SMX Mall of Asia, Pasay City.
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| Bruce Funkhouser presents CCC and IFRRO perspectives on royalties distribution |
Funkhouser is CCC’s vice president for Distributions and
International. He is also vice president of the Brussels-based International
Federation of Reproduction Rights Organizations (
http://www.ifrro.org/).
Established in 1978, CCC is the world’s largest reproduction
rights organization (RRO) and one of the founding members of IFRRO. To date,
CCC has distributed over USD 1 billion to its rightsholders.
Rightsholder is a term for the holder of copyright like
authors, publishers, heirs of authors or other entities with proper
authorization.
Funkhouser said that CCC adheres to the IFRRO Code of
Conduct and is guided by four core values.
First, CCC distributes remuneration efficiently and
expeditiously. Second, CCC remuneration also approximates actual use as far as
possible. Third, he stressed the importance of transparency “by publicizing distribution
plans which explain the manner and frequency of payments with sufficient
detail.” Lastly, distribution should be in accord with applicable national and
international laws.
Funkhouser explained that they manage more than 60 million
works. The use of a special website helps them track use of works while helping
the rightsholders update their titles, rights, and fees. The website is
https://rightscentral.copyright.com/
For the 60 million works, this means that if ten works with
their details are printed on an A4, one will need 6 million sheets of A4.
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| Peewee Apostol presents FILSCAP royalties distribution |
Better known in the music industry as Peewee Apostol, he is
a member of the Board of Trustees at FILSCAP and heads its Distribution and
Documentation Department. Aside from FILSCAP, he is also a Trustee and vice
president of the Music Copyright Administrators of the Philippines (MCAP).
Established in 1965, FILSCAP is the music collective
management organization (CMO) in the Philippines. It is a member of the Paris-based
International Confederation of Authors and Composers Societies (
www.cisac.org).
As a member of the international organization, Apostol said
that FILSCAP complies with CISAC’s “resolutions and Professional Rules for
Musical Societies” These provide music CMOs around the world with “principles governing
the fair and equitable distribution of royalties.”
FILSCAP Board also formulated its Distribution Rules which
was approved by its members and its affiliate music societies abroad.
FILSCAP receives copyright fees from music users like TV and
radio stations, malls, restaurants, hotels, websites, KTVs, and concert
producers. FILSCAP determines the frequency and nature of the use of music
through monitoring reports and cue sheets. These are submitted to them by the
music users, their members, and their sister societies abroad.
Copyright fee or remuneration should be paid by end users
because producing copyrighted works like music is the livelihood of artistic
people.
From FILSCAP’s gross revenue, the distributable revenue is calculated
after subtracting “all expenses incidental to the management and operation of
the society,” provision for reserves if needed, and “provision for the
promotion and development of Filipino music and culture (socio-cultural fund).”
Both CCC and FILSCAP have provisions for a socio-cultural
fund.
Apostol said they manage more than 20 million copyrighted
songs which includes the “Happy Birthday” song. He said that with their more
than one thousand members and bilateral agreements with 40 foreign music
societies, FILSCAP manages “approximately 90% of the copyrighted songs that are
being publicly played in the Philippines.”
The FILCOLS special event was organized in cooperation with
the Book Development of the Philippines (
http://www.bdap.com.ph/)
and the Philippine Educational Publishers Association (PEPA).
Lawyer and Rex Group of Companies honcho Dominador D. Buhain
was present during the special event. Atty. Buhain is president emeritus of
PEPA. He currently heads the Asia-Pacific Publishers Association.
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| Atty. Dominador D. Buhain during the open forum |
Aside from authors and publishers, also present were FILCOLS
chair Dr. Isagani R. Cruz, vice chair Karina A. Bolasco, board members Marne
Kilates and Jose Paolo M. Sibal.
Funkhouser was accompanied by Michael Healy, CCC’s executive
director for Author and Publisher Relations. Prior to the Philippines,
Funkhouser and Healy visited Japan. The other countries they will visit are
Singapore, Australia, and India.
FILCOLS received technical help from CCC as part of the
Milestones Bilateral Agreement which was signed during the IFRRO World Congress
in Ljubljana, Slovenia in 2011.
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| (l-r) Jose Paolo M. Sibal, Karina Bolasco, Dr. Isagani R. Cruz, Bruce Funkhouser, Michael Healy, Atty. Kristina P. Castaneda, and Alvin J. Buenaventura |
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All photos by Sainah Alonzo.
