The foreign country marketplace represents billions of dollars in publisher and songwriter royalties. The “rules of the game’ though outside the U.S. are very different in many ways from the practices, laws and policies that govern our domestic dealings. Many issues and policies surfacing abroad can have a significant effect on U.S. publisher, songwriter and composer revenue let alone the way we do business. This panel of foreign country experts will discuss some of these important issues as well as their effects on the global marketplace. Areas covered include the EU Directive (Article 17), Pan European licensing, the effect Covid has had on collection societies, the fair and appropriate manner of distributing streaming royalties, the handling of translations and the role of sub publishers, among other items.
Speakers:
• Peter Jansson – Early on, the position of Professional Manager was offered by Festival Music, Australia’s largest independent music publisher. Dealing with both local and international songwriters, Peter soon developed a rapport with many successful songwriters and artists. EMI Music Publishing offered the position of Creative Director in 1984 which gave Peter the chance to work with the largest catalogue of songs in the world. As one of the original participants in the EMI Executive Exchange Program, Peter was given the chance to experience many of the major world music markets first hand by working in numerous EMI offices such as Tokyo, Hamburg, Paris, London, New York, Nashville and Los Angeles. In 1989, PolyGram Music offered a joint venture deal for Peter to set up his own music publishing company, and Janssongs, Inc. was born. First headquartered in Sydney, Peter moved the operation to Los Angeles in 1996. Janssongs’ writer roster included an impressive who’s who of Pop/R&B/Country writers including several Grammy nominated writers and producers. The company also music supervised many feature films during the course of its operations which enabled the company to draw from its talented pool of writers and composers and ensured activity for their individual catalogues. Janssongs, Inc. was acquired by a New York investment group in October, 2004. As a Music Industry executive, Peter has represented Paul McCartney, Queen, David Bowie, Kate Bush, A-ha, Foreigner, Cheap Trick, Elton John, Neil Diamond, Roy Orbison, Divinyls, Roxette, Europe, Gilbert O’Sullivan, The Motels, Leo Sayer, Dexys Midnight Runners, Stevie Wonder, George Harrison, Blondie, Laura Branigan, Don McLean, Grace Jones, Juice Newton, Gerry Harrison (Talking Heads), The Wiggles, Little River Band and Ronnie Milsap amongst countless others. In 2004, Peter was a signatory to a Joint Venture agreement with the Chinese Government and was given the historic opportunity of creating the very first “legitimate” music operation in mainland China, representing 65,000 CD masters and 1,757,000 copyrights and developing the infrastructure to China’s emerging national music industry. Peter joined the Disney Music Group in 2016 as Senior Manager, International for Disney Music Publishing and was tasked with protecting and enforcing the global rights and collecting all revenue types for the iconic Disney Music Publishing catalogue globally, ex-USA. Day-to-day responsibilities include overseeing and managing the relationships with all our global partners, including resolving any and all issues at all 187 CMOs globally as well as DSP disputes. Black Box reports reviewed frequently; suspense and control accounts matched against our catalogue claims; YouTube Disputes and Appeals claim resolution on a daily basis; and international monitoring of Societies’ distributions and income tracking of missing royalties. Peter is a regular guest at music conferences throughout the world, bringing his years of knowledge and experience to many Music Industry panels.
• Based in London, Howard Price has spent his professional career of over 20 years at EMI Music Publishing, and further to the acquisition of EMI Music Publishing, at Sony Music Publishing. Howard’s focus over this time has been to bring in and manage partnerships with production companies, broadcasters and studios, in the UK, US and other parts world. In addition to the music publishing administration, Howard has been responsible for realising wider opportunities with such clients, for example, through master rights representation and Production Music library relationships and ventures. Howard is a lecturer at the Royal College of Music Composition for Screen course, and guest lectures for various other educational bodies and establishments.
• Cécile Rap-Veber has been appointed Executive Director Development, International and Operations, SACEM, since June 2021. She is in charge of negotiations and collections relating for media usage, phonographic and videographic media, digital exploitation, private copying levies, international collections and global development of SACEM. She is responsible for the SACEM repertoire and the distribution of royalties collected for the use of works from the repertoire of SACEM in France and abroad. Since 2019, Cécile has headed the Licensing, International and Operations Division. A former lawyer at the Paris Court of Appeal, she joined Universal Music France in 2000, where she was Legal & Business Affairs Director and then Universal Music Consulting & Content (UMCC) Director until 2013. Cécile is General Secretary of the Society for the Administration of Mechanical Reproduction Rights (SDRM). She sits on the Board of Directors of Copie France. She is also on the Board of Directors of the International Bureau of Societies Managing Registration and Mechanical Reproduction Rights (BIEM). Cécile holds a Master’s degree in Contract Law and Private International Law and a Certificate of Proficiency in Law (CAPA) from the Paris Bar.
• Alex Taggart is the Head of International for emerging markets music industry services company and rights management business Outdustry. Based in Los Angeles, Taggart works with the company’s rapidly growing roster of artists, songwriters, producers, labels and publishers to explore opportunities in emerging markets. He is widely recognized as an authority in the Chinese music rights landscape, and is regularly quoted in publications including the Wall Street Journal, Billboard and Quartz.
Moderator:
• Todd Brabec, Esq., Co-author “Music, Money and Success”/former ASCAP EVP/Adjunct Professor USC & LA Board Member