Billy Bragg: “Who owns the music, MTV or me?”

MediaGuardian.co.uk | Media | Who owns the music, MTV or me?
Billy Bragg writes:

In order to get on to MTV Flux, users have to grant MTV the right to transmit their material on the network “in perpetuity and gratis”. They also claim “the right to commercially exploit, host, store, copy, distribute, modify, edit, incorporate into other material, and/or otherwise treat in any way your Material at (MTV’s) discretion without any payment” to the artist.

It seems that MTV Flux will be a TV channel comprising solely user-generated content, the commercial exploitation rights of which are owned by MTV. Just so no one should be in any confusion about what such an agreement might involve, MTV’s content submission conditions states: ‘In particular, you agree to waive all moral rights to the Material.’*

Such terms are unprecedented in the music industry and could have serious long-term implications. It may be that any artist who breaks via the MTV Flux set-up might find that, years later, MTV has some claim to residual rights in their material or else have the use of it for life of copyright, without any payment to the artist, “in perpetuity and gratis”.

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