Transposition deadline for Directive on Collective Management of Copyright

Yesterday (10 April 2016) marked the deadline for the transposition into national law of the Directive on Collective Management of Copyright (2014/26/EU), adopted in February 2014. This Directive applies to all GESAC members—the authors’ societies—who manage the rights of around 1 million creators and rights holders in various artistic fields like music, visual and audiovisual arts, etc.

The Directive highlights the key role of collective management organisations (CMOs) in negotiating deals with licensees and securing fair remuneration to creators. It also sets a legal framework that accompanies the development of the online market for the cross-border use of music and the solutions already provided by CMOs to organise rights clearance in a manner that is efficient for users and respectful of rights holders’ interests.

Collective management organisations—authors’ societies—ensure that creators are paid fairly for the use of their work. They are key in the digital market for cultural content:

–          They provide wide access to creative works for music fans everywhere

–          They streamline the otherwise lengthy and costly process of rights administration

–          The negotiate on behalf of individual authors

–          They nurture new talent by re-investing revenues

The Directive is an affirmation of the standards embraced by GESAC and all its members: a democratic governance, not-for-profit structure, and adaptation to the digital market. To find out more about what authors’ societies do, check out the main figures for GESAC societies in 2014 here.

In fact, the multi-territorial licensing aspect of the CRM Directive means that current issues being discussed in the copyright review, like portability, have already been addressed and implemented in the music sector. Find out more about the Directive and what it means to all stakeholders involved here.

The CRM Directive offers a framework for the licensing of rights, in particular for multi-territorial licenses, addressing a need greatly increased with the growth of online use of music. However, to achieve an efficient, fair, and sustainable digital market, more work is needed. Specifically, the transfer of value taking place between platform services and creators should be addressed, something the European Commission has vowed to tackle in its copyright review expected this year.