GENERAL PRINCIPLES
1. Legal Framework
Under the Singapore Copyright Act, anyone who wishes to make use of such copyrighted materials or reproduce them for commercial purposes is required to obtain a license from MRSS.
2. Business Ethics
MRSS shall act in the best interests of all members represented by MRSS and shall offer our services and conduct ourselves in a fair, effective and non-discriminatory manner and compliance with the law of Singapore. We shall refrain from any illegal, unprofessional and unethical conduct.
3. Activities
MRSS strive to collect license fees on behalf of our music labels and distribute the royalty fees to the labels expeditiously and accurately after making provisions for expenses, liabilities, holdbacks or reserves incurred or expected to be incurred in carrying out the operations of the company.
4. Relations with Rights Holders (Music Labels)
Rights holders are allowed to determine the scope (rights, uses, repertoire and territory) and character (exclusive or non-exclusive) of the rights mandates they give to the MLC, with a right to terminate the mandate.
MRSS must keep and maintain up-to-date records of the members and/or right holders it represents in electronic form.
MRSS shall accept new members and/or provide services to all rights holders on a non-discriminatory basis and according to principles of equal treatment.
MRSS is to allow rights holders to terminate the management of their rights wholly or in part with reasonable notice period.
RELATIONS WITH USERS
MRSS must:
Interact with users in a fair and non-discriminatory manner and in a way that ensures that right holders receive a fair price for use of their rights.
Establish tariffs that are transparent and based on objective criteria and that fairly reflect both the value of right holders’ rights in trade and the benefits to users of the service.
Require users to report the use of all works/content promptly and accurately using a standardised format and where possible using industry-standard recording identifiers.
5. Governance
MRSS will at all times maintain;
(a) proper and complete financial records;
(b) financial records that are audited annually;
(c) records of the collection and distribution of payments from royalty and licence fees collected by MRSS;
(d) operating expenditures;
(e) any other amounts authorised by its Constitution. These may include, the cost to promote and support the growth and development of the music industry. For example, costs of promotional activities, educational programs, cultural funds, donations in support of creators and owners of copyright material, or other charitable purposes; and
(f) Consistent with any applicable duty of confidentiality, MRSS will provide an associated rights holder, on request, with reasonable information about that rights holder’s entitlement to receive a payment from royalty and/or licence fees collected by MRSS.
MRSS will include in its audited financial statements about:
(a) total royalty and/or licence fees collected during the reporting period; and
(b) the total sum and general nature of expenses.
6. Distribution
MRSS aim to ensure that the distribution of revenues reflects the actual use of repertoire as closely as possible.
To minimise unclaimed usage is to have good data, and MRSS work closely with rights holders to ensure the MRSS has up-to-date repertoire data. The better the quality of usage reporting from a user, the better the ability to match the usage to their own repertoire data and allocate revenues accordingly.
(a) MRSS to encourage each right holder to put in place processes to provide, in a standardised electronic format, accurate, complete and timely information on their rights, catalogue, and new recordings, including use of industry-standard recording identifiers.
(b) To strive to accurately identify the use of individual sound recordings in performance activities and to distribute monies to all right holders at track level based on actual use and usage reports insofar as it is economically reasonable. Distribution of revenue at track level, based on actual usage in respect of the licensed service to which the revenue relates (or an objectively justified group of licensed services taking into account the revenue received and the nature of the usage), should be the rule as regards to the distribution of revenue for broadcasting activities, whereas general public performance revenue may be distributed to individual right holders using statistical samples, monitoring or background music providers’ reports or using best available proxies, such as radio usage or objective market share information. However, as a principle, costs for using such alternative methods should be borne by licensees rather than right holders.
(c) To distribute collected revenue no later than 6 months after the end of the financial year in which such revenue is collected, and either: a) at least twice per year; or b) at least once a year, in which case MRSS should pay advances to right holders subject to reasonable financial controls, ensuring that such advances do not exceed amounts right holders are due during the relevant period.
(d) To deduct from the collected sums only the appropriate costs of operating MRSS. No additional deductions for whatever reason should be made unless the right holders have agreed to such deductions or they are stipulated by law. MRSS is to provide details of such deductions to members and indicate whether these are statutory or voluntary.
(e) Revenues for unclaimed usage will be re-distributed among the played and claimed sound recordings in the same calendar year. MRSS shall not hold revenues for unclaimed repertoire separately under a general reserve.
(f) The distribution rules and practices applied by the MRSS shall be based on the principle of individual distribution according to the actual use of the sound recordings and they may not directly or indirectly discriminate between right holders on the grounds of nationality, ownership, genre, or otherwise, without objectively justifiable reasons.
