Boomtown Rats among Irish artists hit by ‘egregious’ breach of royalty rights, court told

The music royalties system operated in Ireland by a record companies organisation has “run roughshod” over the rights of many Irish performers, including and The Boomtown Rats and The Chieftains, the High Court was told.

Andrew Fitzpatrick, barrister for Recorded Artists Actors Performers Ltd (RAAP), said the system operated by Phonographic Performance (Ireland) Ltd (PPI), involved an “egregious” breach of rights.

He made the remarks on Tuesday when opening an action by RAAP against PPI and the State.

Singer Mary Black, her son Danny O’Reilly, lead singer with The Coronas, and her daughter, singer Róisín Ó, were among those in a packed court 16 of the Four Courts for the case before Judge Nessa Cahill.

Bell X1 lead singer Paul Noonan is among the witnesses who will give evidence during the eight-week hearing.

RAAP, established to collect and distributes statutory royalties from recorded music to more than 5,000 performers, initiated its case in 2016 against PPI and the State but the full hearing was delayed for reasons including legal issues being referred to the Court of Justice of the European Union, appeals and discovery issues.

RAAP got important High Court declarations in 2021, including that a 2006 EU directive requires that the right to remuneration accorded to owners of sound recordings publicly broadcast in Ireland must be “equally accorded” to all performers whose performances are included.

The Copyright Act, the court declared, does not properly transpose the 2006 directive into Irish law because it does not accord to all performers on publicly broadcast sound recordings a right to remuneration for their work.

RAAP’s case before the Commercial Court, the High Court’s big-business division, raises significant issues concerning how musical performers are paid for works under copyright law here.

RAAP has claimed that of about €13.8 million collected in performance fees from Irish businesses and broadcasters paying licensing fees in 2024, about €2.9 million was returned to performers.

[ Music royalties dispute affecting thousands of artists nears resolutionOpens in new window ]

PPI denies any breach of rights and has advanced a counterclaim, including a claim RAAP owes it money. The State, the judge was told on Tuesday, is not taking an active part in the hearing.

During his opening, Fitzpatrick said the legal papers feature some performers known internationally but the vast majority of RAAP’s members have names that “do not leap off the page in the same way as Paul Hewson or Hozier”.

The law provides there can be no interference with the rights of performers, under the Copyright Act, to “equitable remuneration” and to appoint a collective organisation, RAAP, to receive and distribute, on their behalf, the payments due to them, counsel said.

PPI, he submitted, has “run roughshod” over both those categories of rights.

From 2002 to 2012, PPI paid the 50 per cent performance share of a qualifying music track to RAAP who paid it on to the performer, he said. From 2012, after PPI “realised it was getting less money”, it “unilaterally” began assessing qualification for payment on a performer-by-performer basis.

Up to 2012, if one member of a band was Irish and three were from outside the EU, and the band recorded a track in the United States, that was a qualifying track attracting the entire 50 per cent share of the licence fee, he said. After 2012, PPI gave one quarter of the 50 per cent share to the band’s Irish performer “and keeps the rest for themselves”.

PPI “incredibly” claims its approach is correct and in line with what was agreed with RAAP from 2002 but RAAP will call evidence denying that, he said.

PPI, said Fitzpatrick, engaged in an “egregious breach” of performers rights when it “purported to get rid of RAAP in 2016” and appointed UK-based Phonographic Performance Ltd (PPL) to manage royalty rights of Irish performers.

That had “real consequences”, with some Irish acts, including The Chieftains, The Boomtown Rats, The Saw Doctors “and even Joe Dolan”, having remuneration withheld because the database used by PPL to calculate the distribution of royalties failed to match some Irish bands with musical tracks released by them.

The hearing continues on Wednesday.