News

GESAC’s Spanish member SGAE will soon be holding an international day of debate on the digital market, cultural industries and intellectual property. The event will gather political figures, representatives of rightholders and of cultural industries. It will address the economic value of the Cultural and Creative Industries in the EU and the necessity for Europe to safeguard and further grow the vibrant ecosystem of a sector that is currently thriving with its 7 million jobs and 4,2 % of EU GDP. The conference will be held in Madrid on 18 September.

Please find the full programme of the conference here.

Management of rights online and on-the-go is one of the key elements to providing the best possible service to rights holders and the users of creative works. GESAC members have steadily been expanding their existing services with easier and faster online options.

Here’s two of the latest new services recently announced by members:

• Suisa (Switzerland) developed a new portal for its 34.000 members that allows creators and publishers to check their statements and information on the internet and on any device at any time.
• Sabam’s (Belgium) latest service provides the users of creative works with easier and more accessible online licensing (check out the brand new video: FR/NL).

We are happy to announce that in late July, GESAC became an associate member of European Movement International (EMI) following a unanimous vote of the EMI board.

EMI is a network of organisations open to all political, economic, social and cultural trends in civil society, with the objective to contribute to the establishment of a united, federal Europe founded on the principles of peace, democracy, liberty, solidarity, and respect for basic human rights. It works as a study and information group, and also as a pressure group, through the influence exerted by its members at all levels in each sector of activity. Several trade unions and political parties are members of EMI: EPP, S&D, ALDE, Confederation of Independent Trade Unions (CSI), the trade unions for the EU institutions civil servant, as well as European umbrella organisations such as the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) and NGOs in the social and environmental sectors.

With this membership, GESAC will participate in EMI’s discussions and working groups, tackling the many subjects that touch upon authors’ rights and the livelihood of creators.

More about the European Movement here.