9 November 2012

Author societies team up with European Commission, supports Europe’s breakthrough bands.

The European Border Breakers Awards is a musical highlight in Europe’s calendar. You may know that they are funded by the European Union’s Culture Programme. But did you also know that Buma Cultuur, a daughter organisation of the Dutch author society Buma, is a partner too?

Even in the Internet age it’s tough for artists to receive acclaim and generate sales outside of their home base. Yet Europe’s music diversity needs artists to ‘break borders’ by chancing their luck in foreign countries. The European Border Breakers Awards celebrate the intrepid and talented few who do manage – and encourages the rest of Europe’s musicians to follow in their footsteps.

Here’s what the European Commission has to say about the EBBAs.

“The circulation of new repertoire is important for people’s access to it and the European Border Breakers Awards aim to stimulate the cross-border circulation of new music. Access to new music and its circulation are crucial for artists’ capacity to build up relations with the wider European public. The European Commission acknowledges that the European music sector contributes significantly to our economy, together with our other creative industries.”

We couldn’t agree more.

Author societies are dedicated to promoting Europe’s musical diversity – and to promoting the success and careers of the artists we represent. That’s why we invest in carefully selected cultural schemes and awards, such as the EBBAs, that showcase emerging artists capable of deepening Europe’s cultural mix.

Robbert Baruch, Public Affairs Manager at Buma comments “It’s great to see how the European Union works to promote European popular music. This is good for Europe and good for our ears.”

You can get involved in the EBBAs by voting online for your favourite act from today to December 21, 2012. The actual ceremony takes place on January 13, 2013 in Groningen, the Netherlands. And we can’t wait.

The EBBAs have helped to kick off the international careers of many well-known names: Carla Bruni, DonkeyBoy and Adele to name a few.

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.