At the recent SCAPR (International Societies’ Council for the Collective Management of Performers’ Rights) General Assembly 18-21st May 2005 Vienna, Austria. Performers & Artistes Rights (M) Sdn Bhd (PRISM) General Manager Mr. Ong Peng Chu was nominated and voted onto the SCAPR Board. Ong was delighted with the news in what he sees as a valuable opportunity both to support SCAPR as an umbrella institution for global performers’ organizations in reforming parts of its policies but also be the 1st Asian to be seated on the International Board. This is the beginning of a broader international collaboration in the field, with PRISM playing an important role in the international collaboration.
He said ‘The work of SCAPR has been invaluable to opening lines of communication between the international societies that collect and distribute recorded performance income, contributing to the improvement of performers’ rights such as bilateral agreements, reporting systems, technical solutions and supporting new young societies development. It is absolutely vital in helping us to harmonise technical, legal and practical aspects of our international co-operation, just like CISAC is there for the copyright societies in the author’s world. I am happy to support any effort that will facilitate a more effective exchange of performance income between territories; however, my priority is set to contribute to the aspects of developing performers’ rights and collective administration in Malaysia and the Asian region.
Further more, SCAPR board has accepted the invitation from PRISM to host the 32nd SCAPR Meeting in May 2007 in Kuala Lumpur. It will really put Malaysia and PRISM 'on the International map' when they host the International Conference, a lots of news and publicity will be generated for PRISM and Malaysia Music Industry in 2007.
“Performers should, as a matter of principle, be treated equally to any other involved category of right owners, We appreciate the efforts being taken by Ministry of Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs (MDTCA) to accede to WCT and WPPT (WIPO Performances and Phonograms Treaty) under the current amendment exercise of the Copyright Act and will be officially ratified the treaties by this year. This mean Recording Artistes and Musicians will be protected when their works are disseminated through new technologies like other right owners” added Ong after the annual dialog session with the Ministry of Domestic Trade and Consumer Affair recently.
For further information, please contact:
Mr. Ong Peng Chu, mobile: 017-8898178, office: 03-4044 8299 email: ong@prism.org.my
www.scapr.org
www.prism.org.my
