Direct negotiations always possible

Direct negotiations always possible

As a collector of licence fees, PPNZ represents a cost-effective, efficient and simple way for media to become licensed to broadcast recorded music. The system has worked successfully here for many years as well as in many other similar jurisdictions overseas.

In addition, the Copyright Tribunal was specifically set up to safeguard public and licensee interests and to determine what is a reasonable licence fee. The Copyright Tribunal has always had an important role to cover any concerns arising from PPNZ having exclusive rights.

Copyright owners have always been able to opt out of the PPNZ scheme if they wished to deal direct with copyright users. Having said that, PPNZ has now amended its agreements with the four major copyright owners to make them non-exclusive. The Commission has agreed with this pragmatic approach.

PPNZ has adopted this position as it was more cost-effective and efficient to make the change than to enter into a debate over what really is an academic legal point.

ENDS

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