President of Professional Asociatıon of the Owners of Music Works Recep Ergül: “Failure to pay royalties is an infringement on fundamental rights and freedoms”

04.08.2022

Recep Ergül, Chairman of the Music Authors’ Union (Professional Asociatıon of the Owners of Music Works), stated that 400 radio and television stations in our country do not pay any royalties.

Saying that not paying the copyright for the music played by TV and radio is a violation of human rights, Recep Ergül said, “Failure to pay royalties is a great disrespect to artists, it is an infringement of fundamental rights and freedoms.” Arguing that copyright awareness does not exceed ten percent in our country, Ergül said, “It is the duty of these professional associations to instill copyright awareness in other parts of the society. We will tell our whole society that copyright is a human right.”

What are the duties and goals of Professional Asociatıon of the Owners of Music Works , Turkey’s largest professional association of musical authors?

Professional Asociatıon of the Owners of Music Works is the flagship, first, largest and most successful of all copyright protection associations established in 1987. The only duty of Professional Asociatıon of the Owners of Music Works is to follow up the works of our composer and arranger members collectively, based on the authority given to us by our members. Collecting music royalties for commercial use in all areas of life and giving them to them. Our institution can also take part in social and cultural activities as well as providing private health insurance in line with the funds cut off to its members and certain criteria. Therefore, Professional Asociatıon of the Owners of Music Works will always lead this sector, produce solutions rather than problems, make its 13,500 members happy, and enlarge the royalty cake.

As for their goals; It aims to catch the royalties reached by Western societies, to make our members live in prosperity and peace, to secure the health and social rights of our members, to solve the special passport problems of performing artists, and to provide health insurance for its members. The ultimate goal of Professional Asociatıon of the Owners of Music Works is to fight until the last figure to be collected as royalty in Turkey, aiming to become a professional association at the standards of professional associations in Germany, France and England.

Professional Asociatıon of the Owners of Music Works and Music Works Group Professioal Union started to act together years later. How would you evaluate that Professional Asociatıon of the Owners of Music Works and Professional Asociatıon of the Owners of Music Works have signed a cooperation protocol?

Professional Asociatıon of the Owners of Music Works and Music Works Group Professioal Union are two sister organizations. The fact that the two professional associations that protect the authors and therefore the works, were in the same field, undoubtedly brought many problems and many disadvantages. The problems that can be solved based on the culture of consensus, the non-compromise of those who run these institutions in the past, have damaged both the works and copyrights of the members. In recent years, the two institutions have come to the fore with quarrels with sensational news. When we took office, the two institutions were at the point where they could not establish relations even at the lowest level. For this reason Professional Asociatıon of the Owners of Music Works, and Music Works Group Professioal Union were exported by our top umbrella organization, CISAC, the International Confederation of Composers and Writers. We took the necessary steps when we came to the task. We signed a 10-year Cooperation Protocol with Music Works Group Professioal Union , headed by Ferhat Göçer. We do licensing together as well as distribution documentation database mapping. Licensing from monopoly, we make collections together. Although our legal entities continue separately, we are de facto united. We get rewards for this on the field. We do more licensing, we don’t leave the consumer a chance to make excuses. Seeing that we did a very good job, CISAC accepted us back into membership after negotiations.

You are the president elected with the most votes in the history of Professional Associatıon of the Owners of Music Works. What was their reason for choosing you?

MESAM has had an unstable management approach for the last 15 years. Our managers were mostly elected by the sheet list in the general assembly. Very different names were chosen not around a specific project, program, or target, but rather by using their personal populations and friendly crony relationships. There were also targets. However, in the general assemblies, these projects and targets were not talked about a lot in a tumultuous environment, and they were not given an opportunity. For the first time in Professional Associatıon of the Owners of Music Works history, at the 16th ordinary general assembly on 30 June 2021, a group of blocks proposed voting. Under my presidency, this group emerged not with some feudal relations, but with projects. With an unmatched interest and kindness, I took 906 of 980 votes and was elected president and started to work with the board of directors.

What have you done since you took office?

In the last 11 months, we have accomplished very peaceful, extremely aggressive and extremely successful works outside. We have prepared the infrastructure in 11 months for MESAM card, MESAM mobile application, Professional Associatıon of the Owners of Music Works to have its own building, establishment of Professional Associatıon of the Owners of Music Works TV, establishment of its club and solving the health and social problems of our members. We started to implement one by one in our projects.

Is the copyright problem, which has become a bleeding wound in Turkey, solved? Is the solution for copyright the sole trade union?

If you say how much copyright awareness is developed in Turkey, I can easily say that it is not even ten percent. Then it is the duty of these professional associations to instill copyright awareness in other segments of the society. We will work together with professional associations to solve this problem. We will explain to our whole society that copyright is a human right with public service announcements, radio and TV programs and social media promotions. We need to bring about a mental revolution. We have to protect and develop the rights of foreigners that belong to us and that we are obliged to protect. Our society should know this, on another subject, even if you write 5846 very well, you will appreciate that it has to adapt and update itself in the changing world conditions in laws. There are some deficiencies arising from our law. I believe that we will solve these problems in cooperation with professional associations in the coming days.

How does MESAM view copyrights against local radio and television?

If the local press means radios and televisions, I can say this. The tariffs are quite low, there may be people with an understanding who do not want to pay even these low tariffs. However, this must be questioned. Why is there more radio and television than is needed? It was needed that it was opened. Since it is opened and needed, since music is also needed, they have to regularly deposit the said royalty, whose tariff is already very low.

What is the approach of Professional Associatıon of the Owners of Music Works on television channels copyright? Are there any companies that don’t pay royalties? Does Professional Associatıon of the Owners of Music Works have a study on Television and Radios?

According to our records, 400 radio and television pay no royalties. Among these, there are several national radio and television channels, mostly local, as well as regional channels. They must pay their royalties without providing any justification. We are going to address this issue that has been neglected until now, and we will. We will not leave a single unlicensed channel. It is not possible to accept this.

Copyright awareness is not sufficiently formed in this society. When we look at these institutions that do not want to pay for the music they play; He pays for the electricity, what will he broadcast with when the electricity is cut off? What will play when we release the music? There will be a colorless, tasteless and saltless broadcasting that no one can watch.

If they don’t need the music, they may not play it. No one is forcing them, but both needing and not paying for the music is a human rights violation. It is a great disrespect to artists, it consists of an encroachment on fundamental rights and freedoms. We absolutely do not accept this. In the coming days, we will initiate all kinds of legal proceedings and continue to be licensed.

Which industries do you get the most royalties from?

The places where all professional associations should receive the most royalties are hotels, restaurants, cafes, shopping malls, chain markets, clothing stores, buses, barbers, taxis, minibuses and other means of public transportation, which we call public places. We are still not at the desired level in copyright collection. However, we foresee that we will reach the desired levels in a few years. Because we have established such a system. Digital platforms are the areas where we receive the most copyrights.

Has a protocol been signed with the wedding halls?

We have come to the stage of making a protocol with the wedding halls, but there is a judgment for and against this issue. The Wedding Hall federations have given us difficulties. I think we will be able to sit at the table again with the licensing activities we will carry out by determining the wedding season in the coming days.

Did the introduction of the digital medium into our lives provide an advantage for the owners of musical works in terms of copyright?

With the introduction of digital platforms into our lives, the increase in copyright is undoubtedly a great advantage in terms of registration. However, when we took office, the contract on YouTube, the contract with Spotify and the contracts made in other channels, must be brought to European and world standards. Then we can say very easily that it has turned into an advantage. But we still can’t say that right now.

HAYATİ ARIGAN

WIDE MEDIA ASSEMBLY MEMBER