Having read Rob Goodale's comments about paying royalties on publically
performed mechanical music, we already do so here in the U.K.!

Firstly, all arrangers should be registered with the Mechanical
Copyright Protection Society (M.C.P.S.).  This is a private body that
collects royalties on recorded work (records, cassettes, CDs and all
forms of mechanical music media) and forward it to the composer(s) or
their estates after deducting a small amount for their overheads.  Any
tunes that we arrange that are in copyright (defined as 70 full years
after the death of the composer or last composer in a joint composition
for anything first published in the U.K. or European Union, or 50 years
for the rest of the world) must have a royalty paid on it.  The rate
for copyright works is currently set at 10% of the selling price plus
Value Added Tax (V.A.T) at 17.5%, making a total of 11.75%.

Although I have no problem with the concept of paying a royalty to the
composer, I do have serious doubts as to the viability of the M.C.P.S.
scheme.  I am sure that with the relatively small volume of mechanical
music produced the schemes actually costs more to administer than they
make from it.  I often wonder if that is the reason why we pay 10% plus
V.A.T. for the privilege while the record companies only pay 6.5% or
8.5% plus V.A.T.!

Secondly, each organ owner should apply to the Performing Rights
Society (P.R.S.) for a licence to play copyright works in public.
P.R.S. have a similar function except they deal with royalties gained
from public performances.  The system was a complete mess with organ
owners being put on different schemes and tariffs depending on which
office they dealt with.  Fortunately, the late Brian Oram on behalf of
the Mechanical Organ Owners' Society (M.O.O.S.) was able to negotiate a
standard rate that all organ owners now benefit from.  I do not have
the current cost to hand, but an idea of the cost can be gleaned from
the fact that in 1997 the annual charge was 19.48 GBP (including
V.A.T.) and it rises annually with the rate of inflation (around 2% a
year).

I know each country has it's own particular take on this subject, so
it would be interesting to hear how (or if) these schemes work in other
parts of the world.

Jeremy Brice.
Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire. U.K.