Capacity Triangle

“The future of composing: AI as a limitless tool?”
On Friday, 19 January 2024, ECSA and Buma Music in Motion co-organised the Capacity Triangle panel “The future of composing: AI as a limitless tool?” at the conference of Eurosonic Noorderslag (ESNS) in Groningen, Netherlands, in the frame of our Capacity Triangle series. During the panel, composers Tomas Louter (Media.Monks), Arriën Molema (BAM! Popauteurs), Assistant Professor of Law and Technology Lorena Flórez Rojas (University of Groningen) and moderator Helienne Lindvall (ECSA President) dived into the opportunities and pitfalls of incorporating AI into the creative process of composing and the legal implications that may occur. 

"Streamers in Europe: the Myths and the Legends"
On Friday, 20 October 2023, ECSA in collaboration with World Soundtrack Awards Ghent organised a Capacity Triangle webinar for music creators: "Streamers in Europe: the Myths and the Legends". 

The panel explored US streaming services' increasing involvement in the European television, film, and music industries and their impact on European composers. Challenges of European film composers such as the threats of buy-outs and other contractual practices were discussed with Anselm Kreuzer (Composers’ Club, ECSA), Quentin Boniface (Netflix), David Hutsebaut (Sabam), Chantelle Woodnutt (Air-Edel) and composers Hannes de Maeyer and Volker Bertelmann.

On Wednesday 21 June 2023 Soundtrack_Cologne and ECSA organised a Capacity Triangle webinar for music creators: "AI and authors rights: what awaits us?". This was a hybrid event, open to anyone who is present at Soundtrack_Cologne, as well as accessible online via a livestream.

As generative AI technologies are becoming more and more powerful and advanced in an increasingly rapid pace, key questions among the creative communities arise about its use and its legal nature. Copyrighted works can be used to “feed” AI technologies to generate music. This “training”, based on large amounts of data, is known as “text and data mining” and can be allowed under certain conditions, as long as rightholders can opt out. What are those conditions and how to exercise this opt-out? What implications do the recent developments of AI have on these exceptions? Can creators and musicians be remunerated for the use of their works by AI?

Those questions are becoming even more relevant as the European institutions are currently discussing what should become the EU’s first regulation on AI, known as the “AI Act”. The legislation aims to follow a risk-based approach, with providers and users having specific obligations depending on the level of risk involved in using the AI.

What would these rules imply for music creators? How do music and AI interact with each other? Are the works of authors protected from misappropriation in a sufficient way? How should we define ethical use of AI in music? Should AI-generated music be copyrighted? How should legislation approach these developments? Our panelists discussed the ins and outs of the proposed AI Act, its link with text and data mining and the general interactions between AI, music and copyright.

Speakers included lawyer Stefan Ellenberg, Marc du Moulin (ECSA), Janne Spijkervet (TikTok), and Katharina Uppenbrink (Initiative Urheberrecht). The panel was moderated by Anselm Kreuzer (Composers' Club, ECSA).

On Tuesday 28 February 2023, from 14:00 - 15:30 CET, ECSA organised a Capacity Triangle webinar for music creators: "The Importance of Managing your Metadata: How to Get Paid and Credited Correctly". 

Often without knowing, music creators do not receive proper credits and the royalties they are due for their work because of mismanaged metadata. As a creator, it is crucial to provide the correct information right from the start in order to help remedy this problem and make sure you get paid correctly.



In short, metadata includes all information that is tied to any released song or album. Examples can be song titles, the songwriters' names and their identifiers, how they are splitting the copyright between them, producer names, publishers and their identifiers, the identifier for the recording (ISRC), the name of the record label, and other data.



In this webinar, several experts gave creators the tools that will help them to ensure that they correctly transmit your metadata, and eventually get credited and paid correctly for the music they create. The experts also discussed what other stakeholders can do to make this easier for creators. 

Speakers included Fiona Bevan (Ivors Academy), Richard James Burgess (American Association of Independent Music - A2IM), Garrett Levin (The Digital Media Association - DiMA),  and Sylvain Piat (International Confederation of Societies of Authors and Composers - CISAC).  Helienne Lindvall (ECSA President) served as moderator.

On December 13th 2022, ECSA organised a Capacity Triangle webinar on “The needs of the Ukrainian cultural sector. How can Ukrainian artists be supported?” in which speakers discussed the current state of the Ukrainian cultural sector, its current needs, and several existing European support programmes.

Russia’s war in Ukraine has had an immense and destructive influence on the Ukrainian cultural sector. Existing cultural infrastructures in the country have been destroyed, local funding opportunities available for culture have been drastically reduced, and a brain drain in the cultural sector is taking place. The Ukrainian cultural sector, therefore, is in need of sustainable solutions and support coming from Europe. The European Commission and various organisations have taken on the responsibility and came up with various support programmes for the Ukrainian cultural sector. The organisations behind these funding programmes went into dialogue with representatives from the Ukrainian cultural sector, who also presented the current circumstances Ukrainian creators find themselves in. This finally may generate a better understanding of the exact needs of the Ukrainian cultural sector. 

The webinar was moderated by ECSA Vice-President Zahra Mani.

The speakers for this edition were:

• Liudmyla Tsymbal, Director of Licensing and International, Ukrainian Author’s service NGO UACRR (Ukraine) 
• Mykola Lysenko, director of Ukraine Symphonic Orchestra, Kyiv Orchestra and Ukraine Pop Orchestra, Mykola Lysenko Foundation, conductor  "I am your border" project (Ukraine)
  
• Lutz Leukhardt, musician, initiator of the song project and funding programme "I am your border" (Germany)
  
• Juliane Ott, Creative Europe unit, DG EAC, European Commission
  
• Alejandro Ramilo, EACEA, European Commission
  
• Anna Klimczak, ZAiKS (Poland)

On May 21st 2021, ECSA organised a Capacity Triangle webinar on “The intersection of Music & Tech. Promotion and remuneration on digital platforms & social media: what tools should music creators be on the lookout for?”

The global health crisis has highlighted the importance of digital and the fundamental need to adapt to new technologies. Now more than ever, music creators must develop their skills to take advantage of the opportunities that digital offers in terms of promotion and remuneration. This webinar focused on how as a music maker, you can build and nurture an online audience, while learning about opportunities offered by new platforms and social media. The attendees learned new ways on how to connect to the online composer & songwriter community, how to enhance their professional career or how to pitch and sync their music. 

The session was moderated by Helienne Lindvall, an award-winning professional songwriter, musician and music and media writer for publications, also the Chair of the Songwriter Committee & Board Director at one of ECSA’s members: The Ivors Academy. 

The speakers for this edition were: 

• Linda Portnoff (Tangy Market)
• Josh Greenberg (Green Mountain Lodge)
• Justin Gray (MDIIO)
• Carlotta De Ninni (The Creative Passport)
  

On March 29th 2021,  ECSA organised a new edition of the Capacity Triangle on “How can we improve authors’ contracts? Best practices and examples of collective bargaining agreements in France & Germany”. 

Now more than ever, individual authors do not only face precarious working conditions, low and unstable income, but also a very weak bargaining position vis-à-vis their contractual counterparts. In some EU Member States, music authors’ associations and their counterparts (in particular music publishers) have tried to address this situation by negotiating and signing collective bargaining agreements (CBAs). Those agreements – which also exist in other creative sectors – aim at promoting a more balanced and transparent framework for the contractual relationship between both parties. As the 2019 Copyright Directive very much encourages such collective mechanisms, the objective of this webinar is to showcase different examples of collective bargaining agreements in France (with the “Code des usages”) and in Germany, analyse the lessons learned from those experiences, and encourage their development in Europe.

The speakers for this edition were:

• Wally Badarou, (musician & ECSA Board member) – France
  
• Juliette Metz (CSDEM) – France
  
• Micki Meuser (film composer and music producer) – Germany
  
• Katharina Uppenbrink (Initiative Urheberrecht – Authors’ Rights Initiative) – Germany
  

On November 25th-26th 2020, ECSA organised a new webinar edition in collaboration with EMMA – European Music Managers Alliance, on "Creators and their Managers. How to make it or break it".

During this webinar, the speakers discussed how managers can help creators protecting their interests, improve their business skills and navigate through the music business. They also discussed common policy goals to achieve a fairer remuneration of creators and the new threats and opportunities brought in by the pandemic. 

Panel I – Creators’ and managers’ personal experiences and practical entrepreneurial tips

Moderated by Anna Lidell (ECSA, CIAM).
Speakers: 

• Arriën Molema, BAM! Popauteurs (The Netherlands)
• Kate Havnevik, NOPA (Norway)
• Marie Dimberg, Dimberg Jernberg Management (Sweden)
• Joan Vich Montaner, Ground Control (Spain).

Panel II – Remuneration and working conditions of music creators during the pandemic

Moderated by Anna Lidell (ECSA, CIAM).
Speakers:

• Per Kviman, Versity Music and EMMA Chair (Sweden)
• Marc du Moulin, ECSA Secretary General
• Arriën Molema, BAM! Popauteurs and ECSA board member (The Netherlands)