Bits of Freedom not impressed with Buma/Stemra’s new licences

Bits of Freedom, a Dutch civil rights watchdog for the online environment, is writing an open letter to Buma/Stemra, an organisation representing the interests of music authors, in which it expresses its dissatisfaction with Buma’s proposed media licences for 2010.

Reason for the objection is Buma’s plan to extend the licensing package for embedding media in a website. Buma has observed that the Internet has taken a big leap in the last few years. In response to the new developments, Buma has re-examined her licensing package.

“The new licenses now offer users of digital music the possibilities of using music digitally on behalf of composers, poets and music publishers for an affordable price where our music authors receive a reasonable remuneration for the use of their work. We have tested the new licenses in the marketplace.” This says Antoinette de Ridder, manager marketing & communication of Buma.

According to Bits of Freedom (BoF), the effects of the licensing package will be confining. In the open letter, that will be open for comments until tonight on co-ment.com, BoF pleas for a soft policy regarding embedding music. De organisation perceives the embedding of media as an essential part of the web and that musicians already benefit from it. According to BoF, the Internet is an important marketing channel that helps musicians in reaching their audience through blogs and virals, for example. A fee on embedding will impoverish the Dutch web and will reflect badly on musicians, fears BoF. Site admins will be less inclined to use media and social networks will, as a precautionary measure, make it impossible to embed media.

Finally, BoF calls the judicial basis for the licensing package “questionable at best”.