10 February 2022

Bulgarian creative alliance to support an enabling environment for creators

In response to the damages the creative sector has witnessed over the years, our Bulgarian member, MUSICAUTOR, together with FILMAUTOR AND ARTISTAUTOR joined forces to create the “Alliance for the Development of Creative Forces”.

The main goal of the Alliance, created on 3 February, is to support the responsible institutions and contributing to Bulgaria’s economic development while also ensuring transparency, fairness and better conditions for creators.

At the press conference on 3 February, the alliance presented a short video featuring a number of prominent artists from all artistic fields, who expressed their position, supported the alliance and emphasized the need for urgent measures in order for them to be able to continue working in Bulgaria. *Only available in Bulgarian.

Ivan Dimitrov, managing director of MUSICAUTOR, alerts on several problems that need to be resolved in order to strengthen the copyright mechanism. The main goal of ARTS is to create a sustainable and balanced environment for the development of the creative sector, which will activate the economic potential of the cultural industries in the country“, he said. The transposition of the two directives from 2019 could help and unlock these new opportunities.

Read the full press release here.

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.