What does AARC do for a
Sound Recording Copyright Owner?

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Under domestic and foreign hometaping laws, a “Sound Recording Copyright Owner” is entitled royalties as compensation for sales lost due to hometaping. Both domestically and abroad, the procedures for collecting these royalties are complicated and time consuming.

What does it mean to be a “Sound Recording Copyright Owner”?

AHRA, the US hometaping law, defines an SRCO as the party, under US Copyright Law, who owns or controls the exclusive right to reproduce the sound recording or authorize others to do so.

Should I sign up with AARC?

Yes, by signing up with AARC, you:

• Eliminate the need for time-consuming and costly individual filing and prosecuting of US claims;
• Minimize government and arbitration costs, and expedite payment of royalties by settling proceedings;
• Reduce the number of controversies needing to be resolved before the Copyright Royalty Board, thereby minimizing government and litigation costs, and expediting payment of royalties;
• Ensure that your rights are protected abroad with regard to hometaping and rental royalties;
• Reduce your costs of collecting hometaping and rental royalties through centralized, common administration and data collection;
• Ensure that your royalty distribution is based on fair and accurate data; and
• Become part of an organization that looks after the long-term interests of artists and sound recording copyright owners.

Under AHRA, to qualify for royalties, each year, a party must file a claim, file the necessary legal papers with the Copyright Royalty Board, engage in settlement negotiations, and if no settlement is reached, take part in an administrative trial.

Taking part in these proceedings and the individual administration of the collected royalties can be burdensome for individual claimants, in terms of time, legal and procedural costs. To alleviate these burdens, AHRA permits claimants to designate a common agent, such as AARC, to administer their royalties.

Once you sign up with AARC, every year, we will file your claim and represent you in every part of the AHRA proceeding, including settlement negotiations. AARC has a perfect record of negotiating settlements with all the claimants in the Sound Recordings Fund. By targeting settlement rather than litigation, AARC minimizes the costs of collecting the royalties thereby maximizing the royalties available for distribution to you.

To facilitate the royalty distribution process and to ensure its fairness, AARC contracts with SoundScan for annual sales data. The SoundScan system registers point-of-sale information on albums and singles from record retailers, e-tailers, and others. The SoundScan system provides the most comprehensive, cost-efficient, and accurate title-specific point-of-sale information on record sales.

AARC can also represent you before foreign collectives and government entities with regard to hometaping royalties. Many countries have hometaping laws that entitle featured recording artists and record companies to royalties.

These foreign laws and regulations, however, include complicated procedures and data requirements to qualify for the royalties. AARC will represent you in every aspect of these proceedings, filing all the necessary paperwork and data with the foreign collective and/or government entities.

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