The BBC Will No Longer Play The Classic Rockers

In the wacky world of music copyrights, what's normal and useful in one country may not extend to another country that has a whole different set of copyright laws. The result can mean it's difficult for even classic superstar acts to get paid or played.

Such is the case with Neil Young, The Doors, Journey and Bonnie Raitt, who have all withdrawn from Britain's Mechanical Copyright Protection Society (MCPS) over the terms of its licensing agreement. As a result, the BBC has announced that it will no longer player their music, because there is no way to properly pay them.

The MCPS is like the UK's version of ASCAP or BMI in that it collects royalties for radio performances in that country.

The fact of the matter is that the BBC really doesn't play these artists all that much anyway, but it might disrupt a few newer artists who happen to use a sample from their records.

The BBC also took a long time to make this decision in that Young had bowed out from the association way back in 2002, The Doors in 2006, and Journey in 2013.

The lesson here is to make sure that you have your international licensing deals sorted out, especially in these days of streaming, because you might be missing out of royalties from airplay that you're not aware of, or not being played at all because you're not part of the system.

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