BusinessWire
With new distribution channels for music come repeated calls for changes in the legal structure of intellectual property (IP) rights that apply to music. University of California, Berkeley Law Professor Robert P. Merges will present a paper on The Continuing Vitality of Music Performance Rights Organizations. He warns that proposals to change the existing music IP rights system could stunt creativity in the United States. and around the world. Merges warns that the more radical proposals would eviscerate or eliminate performing rights organizations, which could weaken all of the gains songwriters have made over the past century.