News from ECSA - August edition

On 25th August, ECSA applied to the new Creative Europe call for European Networks of Cultural and Creative Organisations. The support to European Networks of Cultural and Creative Organisations action intends to enhance the capacities of European cultural and creative sectors to face common challenges and nurture talents, innovate, prosper and generate jobs and growth. The new Creative Europe programme for 2021-2027 was launched on 26th May 2021. The applying networks will now need to wait until the Autumn to hear if they will be selected to receive the grant. 

On 5th August 2021, Italy’s Council of Ministers adopted a draft legislative decree (see here) which would implement the EU Copyright Directive’s provisions into Italian law. After a series of consultations and hearings, this draft decree appears to implement the Directive in a manner which is close to the language of the Directive.  It should be formally adopted after the summer recess in the early Autumn 2021.

CROMA is a festival which aims at promoting and divulging contemporary music, organised by ECSA Portuguese Member: Portuguese Association of Composers (APC). With Master Classes, Seminars, Open Rehearsals and Concerts by some of the main formations dedicated to avant-garde music, this event aims to broaden the horizons and boundaries of the relationship between composers and their audience. Although the first concerts are scheduled for 6th October, the programme kicks off on 2nd October with the Seminar "Good Practices in Music Creation": space dedicated to presentations and discussion panels aimed at all composers from all areas of musical composition on the problems of the sector. The seminar will feature Esther Gottschalk, director of the Dutch Composers' Association Nieuw Geneco, Marc du Moulin, Secretary General of the European Composer and Songwriter Alliance, as well as Carlos Madureira, copyright specialist from the Portuguese Authors' Society.

ECSA UK Member The Ivors Academy published on 14th August a new report estimating the size of the global song streaming data gap – streaming royalties for songs that are unallocated or misallocated due to missing or incomplete data. The Academy conservatively estimates that £500m of streaming royalties due for payment to songwriters and rights holders a year globally are affected by poor data. The report notably echoes a series of recommendations made by the DCMS Select Committee in their inquiry report into the economics of streaming, including that Government should oblige record labels to provide metadata for songs when they license a recording to streaming services, that the music industry should as a matter of urgency establish a minimum viable data standard so that data is usable and comparable across all services, to audit black boxes and end the practice of distributing black box revenues by market share. Read the report here.

On 27th August, ECSA’s Spanish delegate and FFACE Vice Chair Luis Ivars moderated a panel at the Brasilian Musimagem Festival. The Musimagem Festival reached its seventh edition, this time fully online and with new technological tools. The panel was entitled "Composers of Europe" and featured Spanish composers Ivan Martínez Lacamara and Manel Santisteban. The composers duo from "La Casa de Papel" talked about their creative process while Luis Ivars expanded on the current situation of copyright and audiovisual contracts in the digital market in Europe, as well as the latest ECSA initiatives.

SoundTrack_Zürich is a Swiss and European film music conference taking place for the second time during the Zürich Film Festival. The conference is organised by SMECA (Swiss Media Composers Association), curated by Michael Aust (SoundTrack_Cologne) and organised in cooperation with FFM (Forum Filmmusik), ZHdK (Zurich University of Arts) and SoundTrack_Cologne.The event will take place from September 28 to October 1, 2021. 

SoundTrack_Cologne is Europe's leading congress for music and sound in film, games and media, and a source of inspiration for the growing landscape of festivals and congresses in Europe. The event focuses on current developments in culture, law, marketing and technics of media music and offers business cases and networking events. It addresses business professionals, music students and everyone interested in film and music. SoundTrack_Cologne will take place from NOV 17 - NOV 20, 2021. 

The Classical:NEXT conference was planned for September 27 to 30, 2021 at de Doelen in Rotterdam. Held annually, the event is a global networking and exchange hub that is dedicated exclusively to classical and art music.  Due to the cancellation due to the nation’s extended COVID19 restrictions, the conference will now take place in Germany between May 17 and 20, 2022. 

Film Fest Ghent proudly presents the first batch of names for the World Soundtrack Awards 2021. The first round of nominees, in the categories of Film Composer of the Year, Television Composer of the Year and Best Original Song, includes established composers and emerging talent. Among the nominees: Nainita Desai who is nominated for Film Composer of the Year for her scores for the documentaries American Murder: The Family Next Door, Persona: The Dark Truth behind Personality Tests and The Reason I Jump. Moreover, Daniel Pemberton, is also acknowledged for his body of work this year, including Enola Holmes, Rising Phoenix and The Trial of the Chicago 7.