PRO mass production license needs update

Hi!

A client of mine has been ordered by Pro organisatie Gemma in Germany to pay per unit for the use of music (on a DVD). They payed for a Mass Production Licence and did not realize they need to pay royalties: MECHANICAL REPRODUCTION RIGHTS!

There is NO WAY around this. If I’m with a PRO I can not sell royalty free music, and also not over mechanical rights. Or I need to leave the pro organisation which I will never do.

So Envato, all you need to do is a small thing: update the mass production licence for PRO… It now says:

“1. P.R.O. Music . If the Item is P.R.O. Music, this means the author of the item is a member of a P.R.O. and/or the item is registered with a P.R.O. If you intend to use the P.R.O. Music in an End Product that is publicly performed or broadcast, then you may need to obtain additional performing rights from a P.R.O. and be subject to additional fees which are collected by a P.R.O.”

This is fine for broadcast + internet music licence…

But for the Mass Production license all you need to add is: beware, you will be asked by the PRO in your country to pay royalties per produced unit. There is now way around this. To avoid this please chose a non PRO track (this is possible in the search)…

That’s all. I understand Envato does not want this: BUT IS THE LAW. As I am with a PRO I cannot sell a royalty free license for Mass production.

It’s gone so far now the PRO has asked ME TO LEAVE THEM! Serious…

R.

So for broadcast licences it’s clear: an aj client will never be asked to pay for royalties, it’s the broadcaster that pays. (And all tv and radio stations have a deal with the pro organisations to pay one price per year etc).

The mass production is the only exception. The one who produces the DVD (or game on a cardrige or whatever it is) can be asked to pay by the pro per produced item (ITS NOT THAT MUCH, BUT STILL!). No exceptions. So by not stating that in the licence Envato is lying to the costumer. THE PROS WILL BILL THEM!

Clear?

This is not the only exception. There are many possible situations where the buyer is responsible for paying PROs (especially in the case of live contexts). This depends on the type of usage and the policies of specific PROs. GEMA is notoriously one of the most aggressive, but by no means the only one.

It’s something that many authors have been willing to ignore or dismiss. But Envato knows it can happen. And this why they have this disclaimer:

However, in the rare case that you plan to play a project in public or directly broadcast or stream the project yourself, and you or the broadcaster/venue don’t already have a blanket P.R.O. license that covers you, you may need to obtain additional performing rights from a P.R.O if you are using P.R.O. music.

Please be aware that different countries and P.R.O.s may have different rules and criteria, so if you are unsure whether your project and use is considered to be public performance, or whether you may be obligated to pay additional performing rights fees, you should contact your local P.R.O. or a music rights specialist for more information.

But you are right that the part where they say that publishing a DVD is in most cases ok, is indeed misleading, as the publisher will have to pay those royalties.

Thanks @PurpleFog ! Correct! The licence just needs a little sharpening up!

Envato, please?!

I am asked by the Dutch PRO Buma Stemra to cancel my contract with them or leave Audiojungle… Ridiculous!

It’s normal situation, that’s the idea of PRO royalties.

Maybe license should include this info for less educated buyers. Maybe term “royalty free” is little misleading.

Why? Why can’t you sell on AJ while being in PRO? Of course you can :slight_smile: But some tiny number of your buyers will have to pay royalties, some of them even obligatory. Normal situation for me.

In the licence they wrote:

“1. Nothing in this license acts as a waiver of any P.R.O. fees.”

That might safe me from having to cancel my PRO contract!

But I would like Envato to be more specific in the mass production licence, that if they print DVD’s, vinyls, usb-sticks etc, they have to tell the PRO organisation how many they make. It’s the law. Not something to take lightly. If say a company uses my music for a DVD and I find out later it’s my music and they did not claim it with a PRO, I can ask for a lot of compensation.
So Envato should protect both me and the costumers, by making things more clear. Not only for PERFORMING, but also PHYSICAL products…

THANKS!

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It’s a matter of all license types, especially “mass” and above. There is a lot to do with PRO issues on this market.

The most important is the need of more individual, kind of VIP attitude of clients buying bigger licenses e.g. gathering PRO data, contact with those buyers, direct author-buyer help with their PRO and license tier concerns, etc.

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Yes… we need help!