Most of my research has been centered around the way the Israeli music industry operates, and how it differs from the operations of the United States music industry. I wanted to find what the differences were so as to better understand why the music industry in Israel is less developed or successful as the American one. This can be measured in the Israeli music industry being less organized and less known or powerful around the world, amongst other factors. Naturally, these are very hard questions to answer, for anyone in the field, but through my research I gained some initial perspective.
Here's what I found to be the most pivotal points that differ the Israeli music industry from the American industry:
-The size of the country (Israel is roughly the size of New Jersey)
-The age of the country (Israel was formed in May 1948)
-The location of the country (Middle East, surrounded by rival countries. This impacts the citizens' ability to travel/expand their touring)
-The political situation of the country / public opinion
-The Israeli mindset ("Chutzpah", lack of professionalism, 'go-with-the-flow' mentality, to name a few)
-Logistics + communication
These can be seen in many different aspects.
First, the way the music business actually functions is a bit different in Israel than in The States. Performing Rights Organizations, such as America's BMI and ASCAP, operate differently in Israel. While there is little to no difference amongst the U.S.'s PROs, Israel's music industry consists of 5 main PROs, each one serving a different royalty type. The 5 companies are:
- - Eilam - “EILAM is the collecting society of the Israeli musicians and its mission is to license the use of recorded music and videos embodying performers' rights protected materials for public performance broadcast and new media use.”
- - Acum - “ACUM is a non-profit corporation administering the rights assigned to it by its members: authors, composers, lyricists, poets, arrangers and music publishers.”
- - Eshkolot - the Society for the Performing Rights of Israeli Artists, representing according to the law, all Performing Artists in Israel, including Actors, Singers, Entertainers and Dancers.”
- - PIL - independent record producers - middle eastern
- - International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) - The Federation is the Israeli branch of the international organization that promotes and protects the copyright of the record companies. Our main activities include: License to use records / recordings, Promotion of updated legislation, Copyright enforcement, Raising public awareness of copyright.
In this way, independent artists have to go through a lot of trouble to register with multiple PROs, which is especially frustrating since each one takes a registration fee.
There are also some legal differences in the way the music industry works in Israel:
Unlike America, Israel's legal system includes neighboring rights:
- while public performance rights compensate the writer of the song when his/her music is publicly performed, neighboring rights compensate the master holder (typically, the label) and the performer when music is publicly performed.
Israel also embodies moral rights:
- ensures that artists are able to protect their reputation by ensuring that they receive attribution when their work is used and that they can object to uses that they see as harmful to their name.
These differences are just the tip of the iceberg in the factors that differentiate the two countries' music industries. For the full research report, email Hadar at hbaron[at]ramapo.edu.
