19 November 2020

VIRTUAL EVENT: Creators & Online Platforms

On 19 November, GESAC held an online event featuring grammy award-winning singer/songwriter Angélique Kidjo and a whole host of key officials from the European Commission and Parliament.

The event was attended by more than 200 people and showcased a lively debate about the immediate future of EU policy on Article 17 of the Copyright Directive and the COVID-19 Recovery and Resilience Facility.

Please see below for more details on the event, as well Angélique Kidjo’s keynote address and the full video of the event.

Full video below

AGENDA

Welcome address: Jean-Noël Tronc (President of GESAC)

Key-note speech “What can Europe do for creators? What can creators do for Europe?”

Singer/songwriter Angelique Kidjo

Roundtable “New legal framework for new relationship – What has changed and how to make it a reality”

Article 17 of the Copyright Directive is a paradigm shift in the online world, empowering creators to negotiate with tech giants in a balanced way. But the implementation process of the provision and the forthcoming Commission Guidelines bring challenges, and platforms like YouTube and Facebook are still resisting any change. The recent Audio Visual Media Service Directive also provided further guarantees for the cultural sector vis-à-vis platforms, but when will we see the fruits of these Directives?

Panellists: MEP Axel Voss, Giuseppe Abbamonte (Director, Media Policy, DG CNECT), Alban de Nervaux (Ministry for Culture, France), Tobias Holzmüller (Chair of GESAC Legal Committee, General Counsel GEMA)

Roundtable “Too big to care”? What does the future hold for the relationship?

The Digital Services Act is paving the way toward a new regulatory environment for big platforms. Issues such as transparency of algorithms, protection and promotion of cultural diversity are to be addressed to ensure a diverse cultural offering in the digital world. On the other hand, ensuring fair remuneration of creators and tackling the issue of buy-out contracts are key to securing a sustainable digital ecosystem for creative content.

Panelists: MEP Laurence Farreng, MEP Iban Garcia Del Blanco, Anna Herold (Head of Unit, Audiovisual and Media Policy-EU, DG Cnect), Ricardo Castanheira (Portuguese Permanent Representation), Jean-Nöel Tronc (CEO of SACEM and President of GESAC)

Moderated by Isabelle Szczepanski, journalist at Electron Libre

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.