Fair Play for Creators

I wish to thank the whole team at PRS for Music & MCPS for all the hard work you do to help musicians such as myself and wish you all the best in the future on issues that effect musicians. It seems that with all the future technology on where you can get music from these days it is hard for a musician to make money from cd sales and so most artists rely on the internet sales and live gigs. In one sense it has been good because artists that are not well known have been able to get there music across to a wide audience but for artists that are signed and struggling to make comebacks it is hard to get there music back. So I hope YouTube and other sites will recognise that half of there readers of there sites are musicians just trying to promote either the live gigs that they do or the music they are producing and help us to keep us unified through our music. All the best.

Music is for everyone and everyone should have access to it. If it is to be shared, then the creator of that music deserves proper payment for the time and investment they have made to bring that music to the masses.

I support Fair Play for Creators 100%. I currently just write for pleasure and although none of my songs are yet well known, I would like to think my work would be recognised should any make their way on to YouTube. YouTube was practically built on music video foundations. It can't simply sever its ties with its lifeblood.

I am tired of so called 'tech' companies free riding on our backs. Firms like YouTube have a Dickensian view of creators and our industry - their reaction to PRS for Music's justified demand to pay a more equitable amount is straight out of "Oliver Twist"!

Progress in music comes from originality, which in turn comes from Authors. If this chain is broken, then stagnation in the music industry will occur. If authors are not paid for their time to create more music, then no one will bother.

Fair play - the only way. We are losing out on all fronts and need to get some control back otherwise it will be a free for all

Songwriters and performers are witnessing the demise of the record industry. As the distribution of recorded music is increasingly in the hands of internet web-sites, it is the responsibility of these web-sites to fairly allocate their revenues to the suppliers/creators (i.e. songwriters and performers). If the world values music, then we deserve our fair-share of monies gained by the use of our 'works'. If left unaccounted for, in a very short time, we, the creators, will have little (or no) incentive to record our works. The world will fall silent.

Composers and songwriters can only get paid for their music if music use can be tracked. Music use online is becoming free and copyright-free; this is great for getting the music out but there need to be adequate systems in place to pay the creators of that music appropriately. It's clear that the whole royalty system needs a rethink...

Google is making things very hard for upcoming artists. This is beyond wrong and unfair!

For smaller artists such as myself the royalties we make from broadcast of our music are vitally important. While I am very enthusiastic about people around the world being able to hear my music on YouTube it has all but destroyed a very important source of revenue. It takes only a matter of moments from release of a track until its appearance on YouTube and within days can amass a substantial amount of plays. If we, the artists don't receive anything from these plays it is tantamount to piracy. Piracy/mp3 sharing is already the single greatest problem our industry faces and knowing one of the biggest corporate companies in the world is condoning and promoting this practice is totally unacceptable and unfair. I wholly support PRS for Music in what they are doing on our behalf.

Do the right thing Google, it's not like you can't afford to!

The PRS for Music collection is the only UK practitioner that can pursue proper deals for writers at this level and to give in to Google at this time would further erode the pittance that online plays and downloads produce anyway-Google of all people can afford to pay everyone concerned-get it right now!

It's totally unjustified! As a music lover and writer, I value the hard work and talent that goes into the creation of music. Why do innocent people need to suffer as a result of corporate greed? In a world driven by the web, Google should admit their mistakes for the most disconnected decision they have made and need to start looking after their audiences!

Kids don’t pay for music anymore. They all download it for free via torrents, so writers get shafted. It seems there is little we can do about this, as the P2P sites involved aren't visibly encouraging it. Google, however are gaining hits directly from peoples music. They need to pay for a license like anyone else. The nature of the internet doesn't allow them to duck out by blocking things. That won't work. It sucks for them, but they have to accept it's part and parcel of their chosen area of income.

I appreciate the efforts PRS for Music are making but I fear that it is always the affluent big earner members that you are most concerned with, Personally YouTube has been a great invention that has allowed me as an artist to be seen by people the world over that otherwise would never have known of my existence, but I realise the concerns over one's music being released for free usage and I hope an amicable solution is found.

Huge organisations such as Google should be educating their users to the value of intellectual property rights not trying to get things on the cheap.

Music creators should be fairly paid in proportion to the site revenues, and advertising is heavy on these sites!

When Google pulled music from Youtube, it was the same as Google pulling a public outlet out for creative people. Youtube is a wonderful way for artists who are working very hard to become recognized. It's also a great alternative to fans who may not be listening to radio stations as often as they used to. For artists to not receive compensation for their work, and for Google to retain said compensation, is equivalent giving artists the middle finger. It's already been said, "It's an unfair situation.

I'm a British writer, based mainly in the States where the situation has been ridiculous for ages. Surely it is time that societies such as ASCAP, BMI and PRS for Music got together, and employed web sheriffs. People are downloading videos from YouTube or Video Google on to their iPods completely free of charge, thereby eliminating the need for the consumer to purchase a CD or buy it legally through a site such as iTunes or Amazon. The ripple effect of this concerns the fast disappearing CD store, record companies and artists, established and unsigned.

It is vital that the interests of composers and writers are not submerged in the rush to global net conformity; otherwise we'll end up with a trillion amateur on-line composers and nobody able to actually make a creative and worthwhile career out of music.

I would very much like to simply support PRS for Music full stop. I do not believe that music is a commodity that should be simply "used" despite the fact that the industry and attitudes are changing so fast. It is non sustainable to expect musicians to give their music away for free, although I can see the attractiveness of having music placed in something or online for free. A couple of years ago i was in this position my self. Now however, I find myself scratching a living writing literally hours and hours worth of music for TV for next to nothing. Something has to give somewhere, let’s hope that the big companies like Google can at least appreciate my point of view and help the situation as opposed to creating yet another divide in opinion.

I am very pleased that PRS for Music are taking up this matter. The situation is becoming serious with companies and individuals unwilling to pay reasonable rates for the use of music.

If the internet is the future of music delivery then it is vital that artists get a fair royalty so that we can keep doing what we do! Google is being very selfish.

In these troubled times we need to protect whatever potential income sources that may present themselves.

We need to get paid when our work is used, otherwise we will not be able to create music for people to enjoy. Respect us or you will lose us.

YouTube is a broadcast medium like any other. Just because the content is user-generated doesn't mean that songwriters should be denied some kind of royalty, however small. After all, if a radio station plays your request it still has to pay a royalty to the composer of the tune you requested.

Tacit acceptance of online piracy will eventually lead to all creators of copyrighted material to lose money, their livelihoods and eventually their motivation to create.

If I walk into a shop and see something priced at £2, and I only have £1, I can't say "sod you, I'm only giving you a quid" and walk out with it. I'd be arrested for shoplifting. These guys are "Songlifters". It's not right or fair.

Be fair to artists!

Fair payment for creators work on the web has been a long time coming. The internet is not exactly new. Maybe those companies with more to lose will eventually be able to close the gap. I wonder when the illegal free mp3 download sites in Russia will be tackled, they are doing great trade with no return at all to UK record companies and composers.

I think this huge corporation should be paying a fair amount for music use. They are making millions from music and visuals. It is only fair!

As a professional composer I rely on my income from PRS for Music and that income comes directly from companies such as Google or so it should. I am appalled by Google’s stupid tactics which in reality is tantamount to them stealing a part of my income.

I pledge my fair play support for creators.

In the current climate where our music is becoming 'free', sales are now a low income issue therefore performance pay has too be maintained!

Creative output by signed and emerging artists should be tracked and compensated fairly in order to make up the deficit lost by falling CD sales. Perhaps some of the revenue made from advertising could be allocated. Another solution could be a dedicated YouTube Music Division.

The creative members of society are possibly less likely to be business orientated than most others. Therefore, there is maybe a greater need for fair representation and protection of the product they produce. Never has there been a market that is so easily, cheaply and sometimes freely accessible in so many media forms. And yet, this is not reflected in the willingness for it to be paid for, quite the reverse, the more sites like YouTube make it even harder for an artist to be paid for their creations.

As a film & TV composer and the steady shift towards online broadcast I fully support PRS for Music and their efforts to support it's members through collecting online royalties. Myself and all other film composer friends invest virtually everything back into upgrading equipment to raise music standards anyway!!