News | Sunday, 19 April 2009

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No accounts to show for an estimated €500,000 a year

Raphael Vassallo
Royalties owed to Maltese music artists may amount to as much as €200,000 for 2008 alone, but efforts to establish how much of this has already been paid out in copyright by the Performing Rights Society (UK) – Malta’s official government-licensed collecting society – have to date been hampered by an apparent lack of any reliable data.
Emerging from a meeting with PRS’s local agents Dingli & Dingli last Thursday, Howard Keith Debono of Jagged House – the production and management company representing Ira Losco, Tribali, The Rifffs, Airport Impressions and Red Electric – explained that confusion still reigns regarding how and to whom royalties are being distributed.
“It was re-confirmed that around €500,000 per year, in some years less, and in others more, were collected by Dingli on behalf of PRS (UK), and the information they have is that 35-40% (€180,000-€200,000) of this should be coming back to Malta,” Howard Keith said. “However at this point we are awaiting a reply from PRS (UK).”
Contacted yesterday, Dr Kevin Dingli confirmed the above figures, and acknowledged that, for logistical reasons, “it is not possible to guarantee 100% justice in the distribution of royalties.”
However, he added that distribution among local artists has already been effected by PRS, in part or in full... although some artists may feel they are owed more than they actually received.
“As agents we are not responsible for distribution, but what I can say at this stage is that when PRS distributes royalties to local artists, it is on the basis of good faith, and the objective data they had in hand at the time.”
Dingli added that since government formally recognised PRS as Malta’s official representative collecting society in 2007, the local copyright board should by now be in possession of the relevant accounts.
“The situation is far clearer today that it has been in the past, and will become clearer in future,” he said.
Also present for the meeting last Thursday were producers representing various local performing artists, including Winter Moods, Chris Scicluna (of popular duo Chris & Moira), and David Vella of Temple Studios, among others.
Though they described the meeting as positive, they all expressed impatience and frustration at the lack of any clear answers from the London-based collecting society.
“Most of the information we were told on Thursday is not new to us members, nor even to the higher authorities, but nothing has been done to date to rectify past wrongdoings,” Howard Keith said. “The implemented system around the world is simple: what is collected should be distributed. But shared information between the top writers active for these past years unfortunately shows otherwise, and has raised the obvious questions. Where is the money being distributed, to whom (if anyone locally) and based on what information?”
The Jagged House director stressed that local artists now expect a better structure to be proposed, based on past complaints from PRS local members. “Before the present structure can be taken seriously, as members we have to first question the credibility and accountability of what is truthfully owed to the rightful songwriters.”
This is a view echoed separately by other local producers. On his part Chris Scicluna explained that the copyright board appointed by the local government in 2007, is also supposed to monitor the local collecting society.
Scicluna points out that local copyright law defines the obligations of a collecting society as including the collection of fees from licensed establishments and stations; but also the monitoring of local radio airplay and music played in all venues, as well as the distribution of royalties... something Chris Scicluna claims has never been properly implemented in Malta: not even after 2006, when the government was fully aware of the situation.
MaltaToday once again contacted PRS this week with questions regarding the amount paid out in royalties for 2008. However, no reply was forthcoming for a second week; nor is it clear how much is still owed to local artists from preceding years.

rvassallo@mediatoday.com.mt

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