9 July 2013

GESAC Press release on the Collective Rights Management Directive vote in JURI committee

Today, the European Parliament gave its opinion on the CRM Directive (vote in JURI Committee on the report of Mrs Gallo).

The European Parliament rightly recognised the need for cooperation between authors societies in the music sector so as to allow for re-agregation of repertoires for cross border online exploitation of musical works and the necessity for small and medium sized repertories to access the market under the same conditions as the big repertoires. In doing so, the European Parliament is giving a clear signal to Member States and to the EU Commission to improve the text under the forthcoming trialogue negotiations.

On the other hand, by opening the door to external lawyers and agents into the general meetings of authors societies, the European Parliament distorts the specificities of those societies that are formed, controlled and managed by the authors themselves. We urge the EU institutions to restore and guarantee the central role of creators in decision making of their societies.

8.07.2013

GESAC welcomes the progress on CRM directive and looks forward to further improvement of the final text.

GESAC welcomes the progress made on the Proposal for a Directive on collective rights management (CRM Directive) and urges the European Union institutions to address the outstanding issues and rapidly finalise the legislative process.

GESAC, which groups 33 of the main authors’ societies from Europe, represents more than 800 000 creators across a range of artistic sectors: music, audiovisual, visual arts etc., welcomes the recognition by the European Parliament of the essential contribution of Collective Management Organisation (CMOs) in the development of a European market for creative content, and their social and cultural role.

More than 60% of the total rightholders remuneration collected in the world by authors’ societies is coming from the European Union (€4.6 billion), 86% from the music sector. The digital market is growing significantly and today there are more than 260 online music services in the EU offering over 30 million tracks from different repertoires in every EU Member State. Moreover, digital rights collections from European Union societies have doubled in the last four years and now stand in excess of €120m per year. There was an acceleration of growth between 2010 and 2011 of 54%. To support and follow-up the progress made in the sector, there is a need for a harmonised framework for cooperation between the CMOs, with high standards on transparency and governance that would effectively simplify multi-territorial licensing, ensure cross-border availability of Europe’s cultural diversity and maximise royalty returns to European creators.

European Authors societies are modernising to meet the needs of creators, consumers and the users in an ever-growing global market. In this process, creators should remain at the centre of the decision making of their CMOs, which are formed and/or controlled by them and act in sole collective interest of them. GESAC urges the EU institutions to ensure this principle and not act against the actual will of creators on the issues relating to the governance of their CMOs.

Christophe Depreter, the President of GESAC said “the Parliament has significantly improved the text on some key points and we thank the Rapporteur Mrs Gallo and all contributing MEPs for their constructive work. We expect the trialogue discussions between the three institutions to start quickly and yield further improvement of the text so as to guarantee a vibrant cultural digital economy and a sustainable future for creation in the European Union.”

About GESAC:
The European Grouping of Societies of Authors and Composers (GESAC) represents 33 of the main copyright management societies (authors’ societies) in the European Union, Iceland, Norway and Switzerland, administering the rights and remuneration of almost 800 000 authors, composers and writers in a variety of sectors (music, audiovisual, literary and visual and graphic arts) and music publishers. Behind authors’ societies are thus hundreds thousands of authors and composers who are members of these CMS and managing and controlling them.

Contact:
Véronique Desbrosses – General Manager
Email: secretariatgeneral@gesac.org
Phone: +32.2.511.44.54

Published on 09 July 2013

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