Mr. Victor Finn:

The easiest way to answer the Senator's first point is, if someone has rights to a musical work, that is, he or she is a songwriter, and is an artist who releases on his or her own label, he or she is entitled to copyright protection from IMRO for the musical work and its broadcasting.

Artists are entitled to copyrights from IMRO in terms of musical work and the broadcasting of it. Such artists are also entitled to royalties from Phonographic Performance Ireland, PPI, which is the representative body for the record labels. If the artist is own-label, he or she would be entitled to join both PPI and IMRO concurrently. There are separate rights and the artist would receive separate payments in respect of them. Many artists now release on their own labels and are, effectively, SMEs; it is a small cottage industry for them. They are entitled to join both organisations.

I agree on the health benefits issue. We deliberately themed the discussion around the social and economic benefits of music. The health benefits are certainly well documented in research. I thank the Senator for bringing that to our attention.

We have asked for the artist's exemption to be evened out over a period of years rather than it having to be availed of in any one given year. The earnings from an album, for example, can occur over a period of three, four or five years and it would be a fairer exploitation of the exemption that is available, especially to up-and-coming artists. It is only available up to a certain level. It is particularly directed at smaller-earning artists and is therefore directed where it is particularly needed. We would like to see it extended over the four or five year period.

Did the Senator have any other questions?