Entertainment Copyrights

Ikey Music Publishing had the honor and privilege to interview entertainment attorney William Hochberg, based out of Santa Monica, California. We had the pleasure of meeting during the 2012 Latin Billboard Conference that took place in Miami, Florida late April. As for my assignment, William was more than willing to answer a few basic question about his opinion on the music industry today, and where he see the future of it. When asked why is music publishing still important and where he sees the future of music publishing, he made it clear that music publishing remains “a fairly stable source of revenue compared to record sales”.

Clearly our American performing rights organization’s (PRO”S) still depend heavily on their licensing deal with broadcast in general, this revenue stream remains “Robust” as William puts it. However, these licenses deals with major broadcasting parties and PRO”s are becoming more difficult since there are so many new changes within the music industry regarding internet interests, market changes and digital downloads, but it is without a doubt that these difficulties between these two parties will be resolved just like everything else, according to William.

            When I asked William about his take on legislation and if they have made any changes or improvements about digital royalty rate, he made it clear that the Copyright Royalty Board has been pretty consistent with keeping digital royalties the same rate of 9.1 cents as with physical CD sales. In addition, ringtones remain at 24 cents per download regardless of where they are purchased.

            One topic we learned much about in this course was about clearing rights, licensing and their importance. I asked William what advice would he give young entrepreneurs who are dealing with licenses and some common mistakes we all commit. His response was quite interesting because he mention that now there is a new term known as the “Late Fee” which charges those who do not pay licenses on time a “1.5 percent per month for being behind on payments, or the highest lawful rate which ever is lower”. This to me is interesting because this could either make or break your new company. As William puts it, if you’re a small company and are collecting a license fee, which happens to be late on payments, you could be expecting a hefty check. However, if you’re a small company who is late on paying a license fee to a major company, this could possibly put your company in bankrupt.

            For my final question, I asked William what he thought was the most common mistake most aspiring artists or entrepreneurs commit within they’re first years? William brought up an excellent point, the fact that many artists and business dive into big deals too quickly. I love to always say, that if an entity is really willing to spend time and money on your talent, then there is no reason why a bigger company cannot give you at least a week to allow yourself to review the contract with a professional. As William says “So resist the temptation to dive into the pool without first making sure there is plenty of water in it”.

Hochberg, W. (2012, April 28). Interview by K Henriquez [Personal Interview]. Entertainment copyrights.