The Potential Demise of Another Natural Monopoly: New Technologies and the Administration of Performing Rights

Abstract

This is a second in of two articles in which I challenge the collective administration of performing rights. In the first article, published in a recent issue of this journal, I questioned the natural monopoly paradigm that dominates the analysis of collective administration of performing rights. In this article I demonstrate how, by lowering many of the transaction costs which previously purported to justify the practice, new digital technologies further undermine the justification for collective administration. I also discuss whether market forces alone would transform the market into a competitive one, consider possible continuing roles for existing Performing Rights Organizations, and compare the Canadian and the US regulatory approaches to determine how conducive they are to such change.