Q – I listened to a theatre show on Swedish radio called Sommarprataren, “The Summer Talker”, where you played a role as your self, well a record come alive.
I loved the story – the end was a bit too political correct, perhaps – but me and my friends really got hooked by the theme and the words and we wanted to purchase the drama. I contacted Swedish radio and the director, but he said that he couldn’t sell it due to ‘musical rights’. I got really upset. He sent me the script for free though.
Can I purchase a CD from you since you have the rights, I guess. I really loved it, and I lost my tape when I moved recently.
A – Sorry it’s taken me three years to respond to this – I’m afraid I forgot about it. I am sorry to say that I cannot help and I assume the problem stems from the National Radio having certain rights that they pay for ‘in bulk’ so to speak. They do not have to negotiate a deal with every artist for every song they play, it is a set amount that they pay to the various organisations around the world that collect performance royalties for the artists and writers. Consequently they only have the broadcast rights, not the rights to reproduce and sell. If they wanted to do that, they would have contacted my publisher, and they did not do this.