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On 31 March, the German Federal Minister for Justice and Consumer Protection Mr. Heiko Maas and the French Minister for Culture and Communication Ms. Fleur Pellerin adopted a joint statement on authors’ right/copyright which includes a few key principles designed to contribute to the debate taking place at European level.

GESAC, grouping 34 authors’ societies from all over the EU and representing over one million authors and rightholders in this capacity, welcomes this strong commitment from these two prominent EU Countries. The statement issued by France and Germany acknowledges that “authors’ right/copyright plays its full role in stimulating jobs and growth”, stresses that their efforts “will initially be focused on those who create authors right/copyright protected works. They must be guaranteed an appropriate share of the revenue resulting from the use of their works, so that they may be able to live from their creative activity”, and highlights the “smart model” of a Private Copy Remuneration Scheme and the “crucial as ever” role of collective management societies in the digital age.

GESAC General Manager Véronique Desbrosses said: “Creators are at the origin of a value chain which is of key importance for the EU economy: cultural and creative industries (CCI) account for 535.9 billion Euros in revenue and provide jobs for over 7 million Europeans. Europe has a significant role to play in ensuring the success and expansion of this sector in developing a positive authors’ right policy, and this joint statement is a step in the right direction.

> Link to the Common Declaration: French Version / German Version / English Non -Official Version

It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of Jean-Loup Tournier, founder and honorary president of GESAC.  Jean-Loup Tournier was a charismatic man of conviction who headed the SACEM for 40 years. He was a highly cultured man with a passion for music, being a musician himself, and throughout his life he strove to defend the right of authors to live off their creations.  He was a visionary; the first to understand the importance of ensuring that authors’ societies should be united and speak with a single voice. Faced with the upheavals he perceived as a result of European integration and the emergence of the Internet, he was able to convince a small core of societies to create GESAC, a European organization for the defence and promotion of copyright and collective management, in 1990. His unfailing commitment led him to take on the presidency of our group for 10 years. He was actively involved in all aspects and issues, always ready to take a stand. In his own words: « “You can’t win them all” is a concept that remains alien to me, because it means already having accepted defeat. It is possible to lose, but losing is only bearable if one can see victory ahead, further even than the horizon ».

His expertise and his knowledge of copyright and the world of the arts and music in particular were widely acknowledged by his peers who entrusted him, a unique occurrence, with the presidency and subsequently honorary presidency of the three organizations representing authors’ rights in Europe and throughout the world: CISAC, BIEM and GESAC.

We wish to honour his memory and share our deep feelings of loss with those who knew him well and worked with him throughout the years of his presidency of GESAC.

We already miss his friendly and warm presence and his positive and communicative energy. We offer our sincerest condolences to his family and friends.

According to the latest edition of the Eurobarometer, published on 3 March 2015, 30% of the 1000 people interviewed in November 2014 in each of the 28 EU countries consider that culture is the first among the issues that most create a feeling of community among European citizens, ahead of the economy (24%), sports (24%), history (23%), healthcare and religion. Culture was already at the top of these issues, in the spring edition in 2014 and in 2013.  “Culture comes systematically out on top,” according to the Budapest Observatory that reported on this recurrent poll published by the European Commission. The Eurobarometer standard was created in 1973.

PRESS RELEASE – The value generated by creative works benefits almost exclusively to digital intermediaries to the detriment of right holders and in particular, of creators. European creators are asking for a clarification of the European legal provisions on copyright to ensure the sustainability of the digital ecosystem.

Tuesday 3 March.  The Intergroup of the European Parliament on Cultural and Creative Industries (CCI) set up by MEPs Christian Ehler and Pervenche Berès welcomed the German and French Ministers for Culture, Ms. Monika Grütters and Ms. Fleur Pellerin for a debate during which GESAC presented the main results of the recent EY study on the European cultural and creative sector.

The CCI generate 4.2% of the EU’s GDP and provide jobs for more than 7 million people in Europe.  Creative works are one of the main sources of the digital economy and of the operators of information technologies such as search engines, social media or platforms of user generated content.  However, the value generated is not fairly shared.  Creators urge the European institutions to address this crucial issue in the context of the ongoing reflection on copyright.

Intermediaries have a role to play in the digital economy and in remunerating authors whose works circulate on their platforms and networks.  It should be clarified to avoid any drift that liability exemptions provided for by the e-commerce directive are not applicable to them.

GESAC’s General Manager Véronique Desbrosses said: ” This initiative led by two distinguished MEPs which was attended by the French and German Ministers for Culture and by a high number of MEPs and Commission officials demonstrated the importance given by the European policy makers to CCI for the digital economy and to a high level protection of copyright /authors rights. GESAC representing more than 1 million creators and right holders welcomes this clear support. The purely mercantile perspective of some Internet intermediaries has a potentially destructive impact on the creative ecosystem and the value transfer resulting from that behaviour should be addressed within the forthcoming review of the EU authors’ right/copyright legislation.”

>PDF version (EN)

>PDF version (FR)

Contact: Véronique Desbrosses, GESAC General Manager : 0032 2 511 44 54

GESAC represents 34 authors’ societies throughout Europe, and through them more than 1,000,000 creators and right holders in the area of music, graphic and plastic arts, literary and dramatic works and audio-visual