DRASTIC REPORT

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXVI, 25 May 1933, Page 7

DRASTIC REPORT

PERFORMING RIGHTS AUSTRALIAN INQUIRY MR JUSTICE OWEN’S RECOMMENDATIONS 'United Press Association—By Electric Telegraph—Copyright) CANBERRA, 24th May. Mr Justice Owen, Royal Commissioner. who recently inquired into the activities of the Australian and Now Zealand Performing Rights Association' has prepared a drastic report which was tabled in the House of Representatives to-day, recommending legislation controlling the operations of this association. Among the recommendations, he urges that the Association should be compelled to compile full lists of all the musical works in which it claims to hold performing rights, and shall not be entitled to collect any fees for the performance of works not specified in this list. He suggests the establishment of a tribunal to deal with disputes regarding the use of musical works and records in public, to compel the filing of statements of all fees which the association proposed to collect, and also the distribution of such fees.

He recommends that no fee shall be payable for the relay of any musical work if a performing fee has already been paid by the originating station. No performing right shall eiist in respect of the re-difl'usion of any musical work at such places as cafes, hotels, and ships for the entertainment of clientele.

No fee shall be payable for the performance of any musical work in any place used for religious, charitable or educational purposes if the proceeds are devoted to those purposes, and no performing right shall prevail where the performance is not directly for private profit.

Mr Justice Owen makes other minor recommendations, and the Government to determine whether a performing fee can or cannot- lawfully be claimed by a manufacturer of a gramophone record for its use in public. He suggests that an attempt should be made at tiie next international convention at Brussels to control the activities of such monopolies as the Performing Rights Association and similar societies. “A SUPER MONOPOLY”

Mr Justice Owen said the association controlled over 80 per cent.of the best music. It was a super-monopoly able to dictate its own terms. Charges in some cases were excessive, and the law which gave them such unrestricted power should be abolished.