Expert evidence
40.Mr Jampol is a highly experienced record producer in the United States. His company works with a number of very well-known artists and he has experience of anniversary releases. He gave evidence on the basis of instructions that the vinyl releases would have been priced at US$20.16 for a single taken from the Work and US$50 for the Work. He was not asked to address what royalty might have been paid for exploitation of the work. 41.Mr Jampol said that the release of a series of records in this way would have appealed to Eminem fans. He had seen a picture of the LTEV record and noted that it had a picture cover. Unauthorised copies might sometimes be sold in blank covers. He thought that this might deceive purchasers. He did not comment on the “LTEV” markings. He was, however, clear that in the market for such products authenticity is critical to purchasers. They would know that there were always unauthorised copies on the market, but these were not a substitute for genuine releases. A purchaser would thus be careful to buy only authentic goods. 42.Mr Jampol said that US$50 was a high price for an album. An anniversary release might more usually be priced at $24. 43.FBT would in Mr Jampol’s view have been able to command 75per cent90per cent of the revenue achieved from sales under a licencing agreement with a distributor. 44.Mr Velasco has significant experience in the UK in the re-issue of albums made under licence. In his view US$20.16 was a very high price for a 12-inch single and would attract very specific purchasers. The market for 12-inch singles in the UK was tiny and in the UK formed around 0.01per cent of singles sales. The proposed album price of US$50 was very high, not least because the intention was that fans would buy all the singles and then the album and so end up paying over US$170 in total for the re-release of the Work. He could also not see why a decision not to publish an album would lead to losses on a documentary. If the documentary contained new material then it would be of interest to fans. 45.Mr Velasco’s evidence was that a content owner would usually receive around 26-28per cent of the UK published price to dealer, which is just over 50per cent of the retail price. He thought that the price of an album to dealers in the UK would generally be £4.99 to £6.99, which would give retail prices of £8.99 to £12.99. 46.He said that a 90/10 revenue split which was agreed for the digital issue was implausible for a physical release through dealers because it would not have made economic sense for anyone but FBT to be involved.