Copyright term, film labeling, and film preservation legislation : hearings before the Subcommittee on Courts and Intellectual Property of the Committee on the Judiciary, House of Representatives, One Hundred Fourth Congress, first session, on H.R. 989, H.R. 1248, and H.R. 1734 ... June 1 and July 13, 1995 (1996)

91 him it is just a little song that he wrote for his girlfriend or whatever. And so you have somebody who is really not as serious as other people who realize the commercial aspect of this. So you have got a songwriter, then you have got the publishers, as Mr. Murphy was talking about, who are aware of the commercial value of a song. So if they hear a song, they hear the value, the commercial value of a song. And their input is good. And they direct it in a proper way with more maturity. But it goes from a little song to a commercial venture and then to a piece of art. And during this travel, it becomes public domain or under a legislative body that can direct where it goes and how it goes and what rights you have after you have created it. So, I have a few questions that I want to ask. The public, and even this committee — and I certainly don't mean that arrogantly — sometimes, unless you are a performer and unless you are a writer, there are more details at that level than anyone else is able to understand. And one of the issues I want to — ^Mr. Murphy gave a beautiful speech about publishers and I presume you represent publishers; is that correct? I guess my question to you would be what right does the songwriter have once he has designated it to a publisher as far as reproductions of his song? Say some group wants to do his song and he doesn't care for this group or he doesn't think that his piece of art is represented properly, but the publisher sees the commercial side. What are the rights of the songwriter? Mr. Murphy. Mr. Bono, I think that a lot depends upon the contractual understanding the songwriter entered into with the particular publisher. Mr. Bono. And let me just stop you there and let me bring out a point. And the point there that I want to go back to, the contractual rights, you have creators now that are 18, 17, so they enter into a contract. And once they enter into that contract, they are stuck to that, you know. And that goes on for life. It is unchangeable. And I guess I want to raise the issue of equity between the songwriter and the publisher. And now we will go back to what does the songwriter have to say if somebody records his song and demeans his song or does his song in a demeaning fashion, what rights does the artist have? Mr. Murphy. In terms of the sale of recordings, as you know, Mr. Bono, there is a compulsory mechanical license in America. And as such, under the compulsory license, anyone, after the first use — ^you understand that under the licensing system that has been put together by Congress, the first use has always been reserved to the songwriter and to the publisher — the songwriter can prevent any use, the first use. Once that has been done, performed and made available to the public, the second and subsequent use then fall under the compulsory mechanical license. And as such Mr. Bono. Is that the songwriter's control when he records it for the first time basically is what you are saying, correct? Mr. Murphy. That is correct. The second time, once it has been recorded and made available to the public, then other individuals