13 November 2013

Licences for Europe plenary: GESAC announces new commitment to support the licensing of small scale uses and users at the Licences for Europe plenary.

GESAC is pleased to announce today at the European Commission’s Licences for Europe plenary a new commitment to support licensing for small scale uses and users. The commitment will see best practice guidelines promoted across authors societies in the EU and benefit a wide range of copyright users, such as schools, museums and small online businesses.
GESAC, on behalf of the 33 author societies it represent, will today present at the Licences for Europe Plenary Meeting an initiative developed by collective management organisations (CMOs) to simplify the licensing for a very wide range of activities from small-scale users and individuals (e.g. start-up businesses, background music on websites, schools concerts online, wedding videos, small-scale web/podcasting etc.). GESAC is committed to develop “Best Practice Guidelines” in this regard.
This new commitment is in addition to the significant progress in promoting the availability of cross-border music services, which has already been welcomed by the European Commission. Digital music services have developed vastly in the last few years, the market continues to grow, and repertoires from across the EU are widely available throughout the EU, reflecting the cultural diversity of Europe.
Veronique Desbrosses, General Manager of GESAC said: “We welcome initiatives, such as L4E, that facilitated dialogues between stakeholders. CMOs are offering market solutions tailored to the specific needs of the users on a cross-border basis. We plan to launch further initiatives in the near future as result of our fruitful co-operations with the participants of this exercise”.

Background information: Examples of cross-industry initiatives developed by GESAC /GESAC members

Armonia: European licensing hub founded by SACEM, SGAE and SIAE and joined by SPA, ARTISJUS and SABAM. Armonia offers a single point of contact to DSPs for the online licensing of the repertoires represented by the Armonia members, from the first meeting to the effective execution of the license. It has developed tools and guidelines to facilitate the licensing of its aggregated repertoires, and offers full transparency to serve the interests of the Armonia rightholders.
ICE: ICE, whose operations went live in 2010, provides back-office administrative and technical support in terms of work documentation and related services. ICE database contains approx. 16 million copyright records for musical works, including automated registration of publisher agreements (and amendments to these agreements) on shares to the musical works, all on a multi-territorial basis. STIM and PRS for Music employ the ICE as a tool in their licensing, invoicing and processing of music use activities on a multi-territorial basis (and national basis). ICE is consequently an initiative to enable its users to engage in cross-border licensing of their controlled repertoire, with invoicing and processing of music reports against a high quality database service.
EBU/GESAC/ICMP/ECSA dialogue on licensing for broadcasting like services: For several months, the above mentioned organisations representing public broadcasters, CMOs, music publishers and composers are working to develop a forward-looking industry initiative that will set the principles for the licensing of certain broadcast-related online activities on a cross-border basis. The aim is to facilitate the acquisition at a single point of entry, of cross-border licences for a wide musical repertoire, for some of the online activities of the public service broadcasters, related to their broadcasting services while promoting high levels of transparency for creators and publishers for terms and conditions for management of their rights by societies.
Europeana Sounds: A project application made to the European Commission to make the musical works in the archives of several cultural heritage institutions and libraries available on Europeana. The project is still in the process of consideration and has not been officially launched.

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

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.