On June 17, the House of Councillors—the upper house of Japan’s Diet—passed the bill to amend the Copyright Law. The House of Representatives, the lower house, had already passed it on June 4, and with the approval of both chambers the bill was enacted.
As a result of the amendment, when business owners outside Japan use music by Japanese artists as in-store background music and the like, the Japanese side will now be able to receive the usage fees collected by the relevant body in that country.
What Is the Record Performance and Communication Right?
OHYASHIMA covered this amendment to Japan’s Copyright Law earlier, at the point when the Agency for Cultural Affairs had settled on its policy direction (see below).
The law that has now been enacted broadly puts that earlier policy into statutory form. In short, the “record performance and communication right” has been written into Japan’s Copyright Law.
The record performance and communication right is the right under which, when a recorded musical work is played in a setting such as a shop or a public space, the user pays a usage fee, which is in turn passed on to the performers and the record producer. Although it was not unusual for other countries’ copyright laws to provide for such a right, Japan’s Copyright Law had not done so. One reason cited is that, when the law was enacted in 1970, the use of music as background music was assumed to be confined to small shops.
In recent years, however, J-pop has increasingly been used overseas as well, and that is the background against which the present legislation came about.
Royalty Collection May Begin by 2029
The amended Copyright Law provides that it will come into force within three years of promulgation (the point at which a law takes effect). In Japan, the date on which a law is promulgated is the day it appears in the Official Gazette, following the Emperor’s sign-manual and the affixing of the imperial seal (gyomei gyoji). It is worth noting that, at least under the current Constitution, there has been no instance of the Emperor declining to sign a law. This is because the Constitution stipulates that the promulgation of laws is one of the Emperor’s acts in matters of state, and that such acts require the advice and approval of the Cabinet.
As an aside, even though the Emperor is, in practice, unable to refuse to promulgate a law once it has been enacted, he is said to read through every document in full before signing it and affixing his seal. In 2017, the laws, cabinet orders, treaties, and other instruments promulgated by the then-Emperor (now the Emperor Emeritus) came to roughly 960. His abdication in favor of the current Emperor in 2019 stemmed in part from a sense that, as he aged, he could no longer fully carry out such acts in matters of state and other official duties.
To return to the main subject: because the Emperor’s position must not be allowed to let politics stall, little time tends to pass between a law’s enactment and its promulgation. Accordingly, if the amended Copyright Law is promulgated within this year, it will take effect by 2029 at the latest.
In the meantime, how usage fees will be collected when music is used outside Japan is also expected to be worked out. OHYASHIMA will continue to follow developments as warranted.
