Every time a song is used, or part of a book is reproduced within a university or institution, there is a creator who holds rights to that work. However, it is difficult for an author or composer to individually track thousands of uses of their works. This is where collective rights management plays a vital role.
The concept is based on rightsholders authorizing a specialized organization to manage certain rights on their behalf. The organization grants licenses to institutions, collects fees for the use of protected works, and distributes the resulting revenues to rightsholders. In doing so, collective management achieves an important balance: facilitating the lawful use of content while protecting creators’ rights and ensuring they receive the revenues they are entitled to.
Music and Books: The Same Principle
Although music and books are different creative works, the collective management mechanism is largely the same. In the music sector, collective management organizations grant licenses for the use of songs across broadcasting, digital platforms, public venues, and other channels, before distributing revenues to rightsholders according to the rights they manage.
In the publishing sector, Reproduction Rights Organizations (RROs) operate on the same principle. Instead of requiring a university or institution to obtain separate permission from every author and publisher when reproducing parts of books and articles, it can obtain a collective licence. The organization then manages the rights, collects the relevant revenues, and distributes them to the appropriate rightsholders.
The UAE Expands Its Collective Management Framework
In recent years, the UAE has taken important steps toward building an integrated collective rights management system. In the field of books and text-based works, the Emirates Reprographic Rights Management Association (ERRA) represents authors and publishers, manages reprographic rights, and develops licensing frameworks, particularly within the education sector.
The UAE has also expanded the collective management model to the music industry. The Ministry of Economy granted the first collective music rights management licence to the Emirates Music Rights Association (EMRA), with the aim of managing the rights of creators and musicians and collecting and distributing revenues generated from the use of their works.
This was followed by a second license granted to Music Nation, further strengthening the regulatory framework for collective music rights management in the UAE.
The music rights management system covers several areas across the music value chain, including composition and songwriting, performance, production, and publishing.
Protecting Rights Means Sustaining Creativity
These developments represent an important step forward for the UAE’s intellectual property ecosystem. Just as collective reprographic rights management protects authors and publishers, collective music rights management provides a similar mechanism for protecting rightsholders in songs and music.
The objective in both cases is the same: to transform a legal right into a right that can be effectively managed, licensed, and monetized.
An author cannot know every time pages from their book are copied, just as a composer cannot track every place where their music is used. Collective management, however, can organize these uses and transform them into revenues that reach the appropriate rightsholders.
Collective rights management therefore plays an essential role in the creative economy. It not only protects creativity but also helps ensure its sustainability. Whether the work is a book being read or a song being heard, the principle remains the same: when creativity is used, the right should return to its creator.
