value of mechanical royalties paid in one year by the number of releases in the year, and to compare that figure with the corresponding value in another year. That is done in Exhibit 4, which measures the trend in royalties per released tune as between 1963 and 1972. Royalties per released tune went from $656 to $1,399, an increase of 113%. That percentage increase is a reasonable measure of the percentage increase in mechanical royalties per tune, although the dollar income per average tune would be considerably higher because of multiple releases per tune. Accordingly, the dollars of royalties per tune were going up faster than the royalties per release of that tune, which, themselves, were going up faster than inflation. It should be noted and emphasized that these domestic mechanical royalties constituted only part of the income received by copyright owners from recorded music. They also received sizeable foreign mechanical royalties as Exhibits 2 and 3 make clear. In addition, their incomes from performances were about as great as the mechanical royalties and were also accruing faster than inflation. We shall now turn to an examination of what has brought about the tremendous increases in incomes of copyright owners from recorded music. The largest share of mechanical royalties occurs on recently released 42 Note: For this Exhibit, the year 1972 was used because it was the latest Statistics on releases are from 3illboard. The 11.25 tunes per LP was calculated as follows: In 1963, there were approximately 12 tunes per popular LP. CRI's survey of 13 leading record companies, with 61% of the industry's 1972 sales, indicated that, on the average in 1972, a mechanical royalty of 22.5¢ was paid for each popular LP. With a 2 rate, this would indicate that the average popular LP had 11.25 tunes in 1972. This overstates the number of times released, for one tune may be recorded on both a single and an LP, a practice that was more common in 1972 than in 1963. Also, a given tune may be recorded in several different versions on LP's or singles or coth. The number of unes recorded is only some fraction of the number of releases. The above figures of releases do not include tapes. The copyright holders earn mechanical royalties from the sales or their tunes on tape, as well is on records. 43 I. THE HIGH INCOME ENJOYED BY COPYRIGHT OWNERS (CONT'D.) C. THE MUSIC PUBLISHING INDUSTRY HAS NOT ONLY BEATEN INFLATION BY Thanks to the revolution in recording technology and in 1909, are profiting less from the new products than the publishing companies which have invested little or nothing in the development of these products. In order to reach an informed, not to say a fair judgment concerning the statutory mechanical royalty rate and whether it should be increased, one really must recognize and take under advisement some basic facts as to the nature and attraction of modern-day recorded music and the economics of the recording industry. 1. Recordings in 1909. Seen from our present-day perspective, the recordings of 1909 when Congress thought it fair that copyright owners should get as much as 2 per recorded tune -- seem naive and quaint, both artistically and technically. Recordings were made mechanically through an inverted negaphone and the thin and scratchy results were physically pressed on one side of a "wax" disc, one tune per disc. Or a mechanical reproduc 44 tion of sheet music was produced through perforations in a roll of paper. The experience of listening to such music miraculous in its day, no doubt bears little relationship to the experience of listening to modern recorded music, popular or classical. - 2. Recorded Music Today. - is The technology of recording sound has advanced tremendously. This advancing technology makes extraordinary kinds and ranges of musical expression come alive through artistry of performance, arrangements, musical concepts, and through sound as something to be experienced for itself. - A tune, alone, a configuration of musical notes indicated on a sheet of paper, makes no music, let alone a musical experience. To become music, the tune at least must be hummed or picked out with one finger on a piano. A musical experience -- far beyond the tune itself is in large measure a matter of musical arrangement that reflects a concept. It is in very large measure a matter of the artistry, personality, and emotion of performance. In recorded music, today, the extra dimension of the artistry and technology of the generation and recording of sound is added, and it is often this ingredient that makes for a memorable musical experience. In less than a generation, the recording industry has gone from "LP" to "Hi-Fi" to stereophonic o quadraphonic sound: from "microgroove" to 3-channel, frequency-screened and corrected tapes. 45 These facts about modern recorded music are coming to be recog- Each instrument has its own microphone leading to its own Even a president of the American Guild of Authors and Composers Years ago a publisher bought a song, plugged it and got 3. Benefits From, and Contributions to Recorded Music: ** Recording Overview. In Parts A, B, and C of Exhibit 5, estimates are given Growth in Record Retail Sales. Between 1955 and 1974, The Wall Street Journal, February 12, 1974, p. 1. "The New York Times, August 3. 1966. 46 |