6 May 2015

The Commission’s DSMS Communication – GESAC’s point of view

The Commission adopted its Communication on the Digital Single Market Strategy for Europe today. GESAC, which gathers 34 authors’ societies from across Europe and represents more than one million authors and rights holders, welcomes the intention of the Commission to clarify the conditions for the use of copyright protected works by online intermediaries within the forthcoming legislative initiative on copyright. As noted in the Communication, this is particularly important considering intermediaries’ growing involvement in content distribution and the need to safeguard fair remuneration for creators in order to encourage future generations of content.

Today, creators receive very low or no remuneration from the biggest usage of their works on Internet. This is because the biggest and most popular online platforms/services deny that they undertake copyright relevant acts and then hide behind “safe-harbours” to avoid appropriate remuneration and consent of creators under copyright law. This situation severely penalises authors and rights holders and thus puts the future and sustainability of the entire creative ecosystem at risk: and ecosystem that happens to be one of the main contributors to the overall EU economy. It also discourages legitimate online businesses that provide the same or similar services while clearing relevant rights and trying to be part of a strong European digital market.

GESAC’s General Manager, Véronique Desbrosses said the following: “Authors are at the heart of the value chain of the cultural and creative industry, which provides 7.1 millions jobs, and could provide even more with appropriate policies in place. On the other hand, the online services describing themselves as mere intermediaries do not play fairly and do not remunerate creation as they should. This has to be fixed urgently in the EU copyright law”.

For more information :

Véronique Desbrosses, General Manager
Tel: 02 511 44 54
veronique.desbrosses@gesac.org

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.