15 November 2013

What cultural and creative industries bring to France – study on the economic impact of the sector

The French, like all of us, love culture. We all listen to music, go to the cinema, watch television, listen to the radio, read newspapers, magazines and books, play video games, and enjoy going to shows, museums and art events. We all know that culture makes our lives richer and more enjoyable. Yet the value of the cultural and creative sector in economic terms is not as well-known. This means it can be underestimated at times.

A new study has been published in France to set the record straight. Here are the most striking facts we have spotted in the study:

Cultural and creative industries employ 1.2 million people in France, which is 5% of the country’s job market. What’s more, most of these jobs cannot be moved offshore.
The annual revenue of the sector (€61,4bn) exceeds that of the automobile industry (€60,4bn) and of the luxury goods industry (€52,5bn). It is almost equivalent to the revenue generated by the telecommunications industry (€66,2bn) and the revenue of the chemical sector (€68,7bn).
The French cultural and creative sector has produced European and international champions: the n° 1 music production company in the world (Universal Music Group); two of the international leaders in web-based streaming services: audio (Deezer), and video (Dailymotion); the 2^nd largest publishing group worldwide (Hachette), and the 3^rd largest video game publisher (Ubisoft).

You might have seen our tweets yesterday at the Licences for Europe plenary meeting, which closed a 9-month cross-sector effort to identify solutions to bring more content online. Speaking at the event, EU Commissioner Michel Barnier shared a personal conviction: the next European Commission, which takes charge at the end of 2014, will have to present a strategy to support cultural and creative industries. This French study and a recent European study on the same sector give statistical evidence that confirms the cultural and creative sector is worth it.

The English version of the study’s website (www.francecreative.fr) will be available at the beginning of next week and the study later in the month.

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.