Collective Management of Copyright and Related Rights

What is collective management?

By authorizing or mandating professional Collective Management Organizations (CMOs) to manage their rights, authors, performers, producers and other right holders can simplify the management of those rights.

Exclusive rights and collective bargaining can provide an alternative solution to collective management.

What are CMOs?

Collective Management Organizations (CMOs) are, in most cases, not-for-profit entities; their legal form can be either private or public. Depending on the repertoire they represent, they can also be called Music Licensing Companies (MLCs), Mechanical Rights Organizations (MROs), Performers’ Collective Management Organizations (PMOs) or Reproduction Rights Organizations (RROs).

Various types of collective management approaches exist, including statutory/mandatory collective management, as well as contractual/voluntary collective management.

What do CMOs do?

Typically, a CMO:

• monitors when, where and what works are used;
• negotiates tariffs and other conditions with users;
• licenses the use of protected works on behalf of its members and of other rights holders it represents; and
• collects the fees from users and distributes these to the rights holders.