Brazil might have a better idea for collecting royalties

Cory Doctrow, writing on Boing Boing, has welcomed the news that the Brazilian Senate is proposing an overhaul on how royalties are collected and distributed.

It's following on from a six month investigation into the affairs of the local copyright collection societies which found 15 directors suspected of fraud and crime. Now, naturally, nobody would suggest that similar misdeeds are taking place at ASCAP or PRS, but the organisations do share a lot of similarities in their organisations and ways of sharing up the royalty cake.

Doctrow hopes that this might be a first step to inventing a better way of using the acres of data to ensure that everyone gets their fair share.