5 November 2012

Author societies in the cloud

New technologies, and digital and cloud services are helping European music fans discover more music in new ways. Author societies provide licences for both digital and cloud services, ensuring that consumer benefits are matched by benefits for creators. This month, PRS for Music announced a new licensing deal with Amazon’s Cloud Player.

For collective rights management to be effective, it needs to keep up with and adapt to changes in how people consume creative endeavors.

Take music, for example. In the last couple of decades the ways people have listened to music have expanded beyond recognition. Who could have imagined, as we delighted in our new Walkmans back in 1993, the wealth of devices that we’d have access to today: Tablets, e-books, various mobile music players, smart phones, as well as computers.

In the digital world, the consumer comes first. And the cloud is supporting this trend. Cloud services are fast becoming one of the future platforms for music consumption due to the simplicity of access they offer to music libraries, through different devices.

Author societies recognise and embrace the value of digital and cloud for Europe’s cultural mix. But their number one priority is to safeguard the livelihoods of the creators they represent. For instance, entering into licensing agreements with digital and cloud service providers, as PRS for Music, the UK-based author society, does is one of the very important parts of balancing consumers’ enjoyment with creators’ rights.

PRS for Music has been issuing licenses for digital services for over a decade. They issued their first license for a cloud music service in 2010.

This month, PRS for Music unveiled a new deal with Amazon Cloud Player, meaning their members will receive revenue as their customers enjoy the service.

PRS for Music has now supported the launch of over 70 fully-licensed online music services and has licensed a range of cloud services from big name providers like iTunes and 7 Digital.

And they’re just getting started.

Policies

Artificial intelligence

Artificial intelligence brings about many new opportunities for our lives, including in the field of culture and creativity, but its applications also raise a number of ethical and legal questions due to their wide-spread uncontrolled and unchecked usage.

Policies

Music Streaming

Music streaming has unquestionably become the predominant means of enjoying music, replacing traditional physical media and expanded far beyond the live sector by providing user-friendly, high quality, and affordable access to the largest possible repertoire anytime, anywhere, online, or offline.

Songs and compositions are at the heart of this thriving market, which counts 524 million users on subscription-based music services globally, reaches more than 2 billion users including the streaming on UGC platforms, and offers more than 70 million tracks from approximately 8 million artists.

Yet, the authors and composers cannot benefit adequately from this success, and the debate over unfairness of this market is gaining traction across Europe and around the world.

There is a need to look more closely at how songwriters and composers are connected to this thriving economy and what can be done to improve their currently neglected situation.

Read below to find out more about the Music Streaming market.

Policies

Buy-out contracts: a dangerous threat to European creators

European music creators (composers, lyricists etc.) are being forced to forsake thousands of euros in future earnings by draconian ‘work made for hire’ (WMH) and buy-out contracts.

Online audiovisual services and broadcasters that are mainly US-based are forcing music creators to accept such contracts, which enforce a one-time payment in exchange for their rights.

Given the worldwide popularity of shows and series on platforms like Netflix, Amazon, Disney etc., and their replay value, the audiovisual market represents an important revenue stream for creators. Soundtracks alone are part and parcel of series and often attract a similar amount of popularity, massively boosting sales, streams and the worldwide fanbase of their authors.

Read below to find out how video on demand (VOD) platforms and broadcasters are circumventing EU law and what can be done about it.

Policies

Authors’ societies & the collective management model

Authors’ societies are hugely beneficial to both authors (creators), users (platforms and services), and the broader public.

Beyond benefiting these different groups, authors’ societies also support the broader cultural ecosystem by funding and promoting cultural and creative initiatives.

Below are five key benefits to authors’ societies and the collective management model.

Policies

The Copyright Directive

In April 2019, the Directive on Copyright in the Digital Single Market was formally adopted, a change that will positively transform authors’ rights throughout the EU. Each member state now has until 7 June 2021 to transpose the Directive into their respective national law.

This reform is an opportunity to address pressing issues for authors in the Digital Single Market and will promote the growth of Europe’s creative and cultural industries (CCIs) – a major driver of Europe’s economy.

One of the biggest achievements of this new piece of legislation was to address the
‘Transfer of Value’ problem, a priority issue for all European creators.

Below are some of the Directive’s key areas that will affect creators and those who profit from their work.