Will Page

Analysis: Signs of Intelligent Life in the Music Business

Authored by Paul Sweeting on May 26, 2008 - 5:56pm.

Required reading: "Should Societies Pursue Equity?" a white paper released last week by Will Page and David Touve. Page is the executive director of research for the Mechanical Copyright Protection Society--Performing Rights Society Alliance, the U.K.-based royalty collection agency for songwriters and music publishers. Touve is a doctoral candidate at Vanderbilt University and a former online music entrepreneur. The white paper asks the musical question: Could a licensing system for music start-ups based on giving performing rights societies equity in the company that would pay out either at the time of an acquisition or as a percentage of future revenue, in exchange for a blanket license to use the society's catalog, help resolve the current legal stalemate between rights owners and innovators.