The European Court of Justice has ruled that a copyright holder of musical works provides a service for remuneration to the person who organizes a performance when the organizer pays a fee to have the right to transfer the works to the public. This also applies if a designated collective management organization, which acts in its own name but on behalf of the copyright holder, collects the fee. The Court finds that there was a legal relationship involving a reciprocal exchange of performances, since the copyright holder, by allowing the transmission of a musical work to the public, gave a user the right to use the work. Furthermore, there was a direct link between the service provided and the payment of the fee as the use of the protected work was allowed at the express request of the user who also paid a fee for the use. The fee paid by the user constituted compensation for the provision of the service. The assessment was not affected by the fact that the collective management of the remuneration followed national law or that the collective management organization acted for both copyright holders who were members of the organization and those who were not members, provided that the organization’s way of managing the remuneration did not differ depending on the type. copyright holder (C-501/19 UCMR-ADA , paragraphs 34 to 40).
Source: skatteverket.se
