THE NEED FOR A PUBLIC PERFORMANCE RIGHT IN SOUND RECORDINGS

The Copyright Act currently excludes owners of copyrights in sound rec ordings, such as musical performers and recording companies, from the right to authorize or be compensated for public performances of their works. All other copyright holders in musical works, such as songwrite rs, composers, and publishers, have protected public performance right s. In this Note, Mr. O'Dowd argues that the emergence of digital techn ology threatens to exacerbate this inequity to the point that holders of copyrights in sound recordings will have little economic incentive to produce new works. He analyzes and rebuts broadcasters' arguments a gainst the provision of a performance right to copyright holders in so und recordings. He then analyzes the market effects of various propose d legislative solutions and proposes that Congress act quickly to amen d the law while digital transmission services are still in their early stages.