The Performing Right Society (PRS) has “commenced legal proceedings” against Steam owner Valve over the use of its members’ works on Steam “without permission.”
The organization claims that while games right across the spectrum use music to “transform play into emotional, immersive experiences,” Valve has “never obtained a licence for its use of the rights managed by PRS on behalf of its members, comprising songwriters, composers, and music publishers.”
PRS claims “many game titles which incorporate PRS members’ musical works are made available on Steam,” including “high profile series” such as Forza Horizon, FIFA/EA FC, and GTA.
PRS said that as it had sought to work with Valve about the licensing issues “for many years without appropriate engagement from Valve,” it has now issued legal proceedings under the UK’s s20 Copyright, Designs, and Patents Act 1988 and requires any game that uses PRS’ works to obtain a licence.
“The litigation will progress unless Valve Corporation engages positively with discussions and takes the necessary license to cover the use of PRS repertoire, both retrospectively and moving forwards,” the organization said in a press statement.
Dan Gopal, chief commercial officer, PRS for Music said: "Our members create music that enhances experiences and PRS exists to protect the value of their work with integrity, transparency, and fairness. Legal proceedings are not a step we take lightly, but when a business’s actions undermine those principles, we have a duty to act.
“Great video games rely on great soundtracks, and the songwriters and creators behind them deserve to have their contribution recognised and fairly valued.”
I have some experience in licensing music in the UK. it’s simple and cheap and it means the artists get paid (well the record labels, but that’s another problem)
You paid a tiny amount of the profits you made after filling in the form which is pretty much just name and address and the tracks you used. It was something like £20 to play 5-10 songs for a three week run of a live show
This is for distributing games that already have licenses to the songs in them, though.
Not neccessarily a defense of the system, but I’d say this is for playing music on the shop screens before you buy the games, and other promotional material.
For example Borderlands GOTY uses a rock song with lyrics that’s not part of the game’s OST.
If music is used in a Trailer, that Trailer is probably made and Distributed by the Games Studio / Publisher and as such they would be accountable for copyright.
Those are supplied by the publisher, though, which presumably has the rights to do so in the license. I guess we’ll see.