[pp.int.general] 3-step usage rights / forced licensing model

[Kaj Sotala]

Quoting Pasi Palmulehto <scoffer at kofeiini.riippuvuus.net>:
> The idea might be called "3-step usage rights" (I will not use the term
> copyright, since it doesn't fit here anymore) or forced licensing
> (sounds nasty).
>
> The main idea is to remove all restrictions from private non-commercial
> use of currently copyrighted information (I will not say file-sharing
> since it's only a part of it), to remove limitations from creating
> derivates, mash ups, mixes and such, except from a small compensation to
> original creators from actual sales, and finally, after a bit longer
> time, to move the work into public domain.

As I was the one who came up with this model, a few words on the background.

The model was basically inspired by two things:

1) People saying that 5-10 years of copyright is too short. The people  
in question making pretty convincing arguments.
2) Comparing the sales of books and recordings vs. live performances  
of songs. As we probably all know, books sell out pretty quickly,  
their sales typically falling to close to nothing after the first  
year. For recordings, the lifetime is a bit longer, but two thirds of  
the sales are still made within the first five years.

However, a while back I contacted Teosto, the performance rights  
organization that collects royalties on behalf of songwriters and  
composers in Finland. I asked for statistics on how old the songs that  
people in Finland were performing were. Here the results were  
different: while new songs still got the most playtime, older songs  
still got played a lot. Looking at the statistics for payments that  
were made in June 2009 (apparently mostly covering performances from  
the previous year - they were a bit unclear on that), songs written or  
composed in 2008 had been performed 574 517 times (13 797 individual  
songs). As for older songs:

* Written or composed in 2007: 517 612 performances, 11 520 songs
* Written or composed in 2006: 310 504 performances, 9 626 songs
* Written or composed in 2005: 231 715 performances, 10 235 songs
* Written or composed in 2004: 177 224 performances, 7 806 songs
* Written or composed in 2003: 150 794 performances, 6 808 songs
* Written or composed in 2002: 140 778 performances, 6 702 songs
* Written or composed in 2001: 139 594 performances, 5 933 songs
* Written or composed in 2000: 131 218 performances, 5 285 songs

As you can see, the drop-off is a lot less drastic than for other  
forms of culture. I wasn't provided exact figures for songs older than  
this, but they told me that songs that were 25 years old had been  
performed almost as many times as songs that were 10 years old. It's  
only after that point that there really starts to be a drastic drop.

So I thought - what's the main difference making songs different from  
books and recordings? Well, obviously the fact that it's a *lot*  
easier to get a permission to perform a song than it is to get  
permission to reissue a book or recording. Most of the time, you just  
inform Teosto that you're performing a certain song, pay them a lump  
sum, and that's it. For books and recordings, you need to track down  
the rights owner, negotiate for permission, etc.

But thanks to the collection agency-based approach employed in the  
case of songs, the main harms of a long copyright are actually  
avoided. Sure, the system is still more inefficient than if there was  
no copyright-based monopoly, but let's be honest - while the original  
authors still have a chance to ban their works from being performed,  
that rarely happens, so this is hardly even much of a monopoly anymore.

Thus the logical conclusion that instead of entirely abolishing  
commercial copyright after a very short term, it'd be better to  
introduce a similar system. Not only would it be a lot easier to lobby  
for than the more drastic "5 years, period", it would also make me,  
personally, feel better knowing that the original authors would still  
get some income even after a longer time.

-- Kaj Sotala / Spokesman, Piraattipuolue