I am extremely grateful to the noble Lord, Lord Foster, for bringing this amendment, for the discussions and dialogue we have had, for the correspondence I have enjoyed with the noble Earl, Lord Clancarty, and for the excellent summation by the noble Lord, Lord Leong—I was about to say “my noble friend” because he is a good friend—who asked some key questions. I am afraid I do not have the answer to the final question that the noble Lord, Lord Leong, asked about the touring rights of artists. I will write to him on that; it is a very good point, and we very much hope that clearly the additional facilities that we have, in terms of temporary business entry for CPTPP countries, may include this. I hope it will and I will confirm this.
Some good points have been raised. In response, first, I will say that the desire to treat performers equitably is the right thing to do. Currently, there are a number of performers who are excluded from receiving the 50% mandatory royalty payment, simply because they come from another country or their work has not been registered in the appropriate fashion. The consultation, which started yesterday and will report on 11 March, is not specifically a consultation on the CPTPP, because we wanted it to be a far wider consultation around the principles of broadcast rights—but clearly it will reflect on the discussion we are having now.
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Understanding the difference between how we operate artists’ performance rights today and how they will operate under CPTPP has been an interesting process.
The reality is that we are doing this as a result of our treaty obligations and the most favoured nation principles, extending these rights to other countries that may not necessarily reciprocate. But it is more subtle than that, so I will explore this a little further. Given how music is produced now, nearly all of it is released simultaneously. In my view, apart from music that is defined and not released on a global scale—although, of course, fundamentally it is, given how it is published using modern media and communication techniques—nearly all music, or a huge amount of additional quantity, would already be in the market, even if we did not have this specific extension to the most favoured nation status of the other countries. It is important to highlight this. As a result, we may be slightly confusing the cornerstone issues here. However, the consultation will give us an opportunity to take a step back and frame how we want to manage artists’ performance payments for broadcast media. Reflecting the letter I wrote to the noble Lord, Lord Foster, that is not a significant amount of overall payments in numeric terms—the majority of music revenues are generated through streaming and other sales.
I am happy to have further conversations on this. As the Lords Minister covering CPTPP, I am clearly comfortable with participating in a proper and deep discussion on the responses to the consultation. I do not share some noble Lords’ concerns about the effect this will have on the industry; that is not because I do not take this seriously but because I believe that the CPTPP measures themselves will have an effect. The additional applicable countries with most favoured nation status will not necessarily create the effect that some noble Lords suggest. That is because of how the world of music production has changed—it will broadly entitle more artists to be perceived to be in CPTPP countries.
I do not know whether I have explained this with any more clarity, but I take very seriously the points of the noble Lord, Lord Foster. I have been privileged to engage with him on this matter. We are having a consultation, and we will review this very seriously. I do not think there is any political mileage one way or the other in this. We want to get to the right outcome that supports the UK music industry, and ensures that our artists are properly rewarded and that the British music industry is not disadvantaged in any way. I believe that signing up to this agreement will benefit our artists, allowing them better protections in these markets than what we may have to offer in return. In this instance, on a technical point, I ask the noble Lord to withdraw his amendment for those reasons.