PRM promotes the rights of recording artists and companies

Jerry Donato - The Philippine Star

December 10, 2021 | 12:00am

Philippines Recorded Music Rights Inc. (PRM) head of licensing Peewee Apostol: The organization represents its members and assures that the latter’s public performance rights are respected and recognized.

MANILA, Philippines — Music practically reflects everyone’s musings about and moments in life. Like a film score, this form of art is a preferred company of most. Its ubiquity is undeniable. When one decides to spend an overnight stay at a boutique hotel or grab a quick bite at a neighborhood café, one is usually welcomed by piped music. It creates a relaxed and homey ambiance that customers get to enjoy. When one tunes into a TV or radio program, one encounters music that evokes emotions to further understand the narrative or pay attention to the news. Music has become a part of public and broadcast performance or activity. From it, the organization and combination of sounds, emerges the tunes, or sound recordings as others may put it, that are a product of different minds. The latter’s musical creativity and contributions must be recognized and respected. Songs are being played in establishments and heard by the public. Then business owners must secure the music license to use them. To shed light on this is Philippines Recorded Music Rights, Inc. (PRM), a non-stock, non-profit, joint music licensing organization. Its head of licensing Peewee Apostol, in a recent virtual interview, began the conversation by sharing this common scenario: When listeners hear a sound recording on the radio, what they must know is, there are creative individuals who have properties in and rights over specific aspects of the recorded music. They are the composer, lyricist and publisher, who are represented by the Filipino Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers or FILSCAP. The organization looks after these creative people’s public performance rights and collects remuneration or royalties on their behalf. The composer, lyricist and publisher form the first half of the sound recording work. The lyricist is also called the author, while the publisher means music publisher. The recording company (producer) and artist (performer), on the other hand, make up the other half of sound recording, said Peewee. “At the same level, they have the same public performance rights like those of composers, lyricists and publishers,” added he. PRM will take care of the recording company and artist’s rights. Within the music recording industry, FILSCAP and PRM promote and protect their members’ rights, which are guaranteed by the Intellectual Property Code. Both are separate collective management organizations, accredited by the Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines. There are other organizations that also represent the public performance rights of other creatives that constitute the recording music industry. “They have strength in numbers,” shared Peewee about the value for creatives to be part of organizations like PRM. “They have the leverage to approach, for example, the music users and tell them, ‘Please, if you will be using our music properties, you have to pay us the license fee.’ Kasi kung individually nilang gagawin yun, mahihirapan sila to approach every music user in the Philippines and abroad.” Those holders of rights, the recording companies and artists, who wish to become members of PRM, must sign a membership agreement with the organization for the latter to represent their rights, said Peewee. As of now, the members of PRM are limited to the major recording companies like Universal Music-MCA Universal, Warner Music and Sony Music. They all collectively control 70 percent of all music being played in the Philippines, added Peewee. When recording companies sign the agreement with PRM, he said that they are also bringing their artists in the agreement. Asked how PRM defines a producer and performer or draws the demarcation line between them, according to its website, “a producer is the one who takes on the financial responsibility of recording a song.” Thus, the producer owns the original sound recording or the master tapes. Performer, on the other hand, refers to the artist “who participated in the actual sound recording.” A performer can be a band musician, choir member, conductor, singer, session musician and orchestra member. Given its functions, PRM approaches music users in the country such as “hotels, restaurants, music lounges, transportation and broadcast, cable and radio, all of these that use music. We will have to approach them and tell them that right now we are representing the three majors (the major recording companies) and their music properties,” said Peewee, whose organization is willing to engage the public in talks that will further explain what PRM stands for. Without a doubt, educating music users about intellectual property and music rights is a daunting task on the part of organizations like PRM. In time, however, the public will understand and appreciate the rationale behind it. That’s why PRM commits itself to craft more information and educational campaigns to achieve this. The PRM board is divided into two groups that represent the recording companies and artists. Its focus is the promotion and protection of the creatives’ public performance rights in recorded music. (For details, visit https://www.prmphils.com/membership.)

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