News from ECSA: October 2023

On 12 October, ECSA President Helienne Lindvall met in Paris with Cécile Rap-Veber, CEO of SACEM (Société des Auteurs, Compositeurs et Éditeurs de Musique). They discussed music streaming, SACEM’s licensing deals, and buy-out contracts. AI was also high on the agenda, with SACEM announcing on the same day in a press release that it will exercise its right to opt-out on behalf of their members, against a backdrop of increasing development of AI. It announced that “from now on, data mining of works in SACEM’s repertoire by entities developing AI tools will require prior authorisation from SACEM, in order to ensure fair remuneration for the authors, composers and music publishers it represents. By exercising this right to opt-out, SACEM intends to restore the exclusive rights of creators by making data mining operations subject to prior authorisation”.

On 12 October, ECSA President Helienne Lindvall met with the French CNM (Centre National de la Musique) President, Jean-Philippe Thiellay, at MaMa Music and Convention in Paris. During the meeting, they discussed CNM’s and ECSA’S shared objectives for the European music sector, including the collection and analysis of data in the music industry, sectoral action for music under Creative Europe, and the promotion of European works. They also discussed CNM’s activities, such as the One Voice for European Music initiative. We warmly thank Jean-Philippe Thiellay and the CNM for a fruitful exchange.

In a joint press release published on 3 October, European audiovisual and cultural organisations, including ECSA, welcomed the European Parliament’s (EP) adoption of its position on the European Media Freedom Act (EMFA) and its much needed clarifications on its Article 20. The EP’s position was adopted in plenary on 3 October, and its clarifications on Article 20 should prevent this article from being used to challenge or weaken ambitious cultural policies set out by Member States to promote European audiovisual creation. Read the press release and the list of signatories below via the website of the Federation of European Screen Directors (FERA).

On 16 October, ECSA submitted its answers to the European Commission’s (EC) DG Connect questions received as a follow-up on the European Media Industry Outlook, an EC report aiming to explore media trends and analyse their potential impact in the EU media markets, looking into the audiovisual, news media, and video game sectors. The report reveals imbalances in the retention and ownership of intellectual property rights, notably through "work made for hire" provisions and buy-out contracts, affecting European composers. In our written answers, we repeat our call to examine the issue of buy-out contracts and other abusive contractual practices and to take ambitious measures to stop those practices.

On 24 October, the EP’s CULT and EMPL Committees adopted the report from Members of the European Parliament Domènec Ruiz Devesa (S&D, Spain) and Antonius Manders (EPP, the Netherlands) on an "EU framework for the social and professional situation of artists and workers in the cultural and creative sectors". The report highlights the challenges faced by professionals in the cultural and creative sectors (CCS). We welcome the report’s call for fair remuneration for CCS professionals, its call for action against buy-out practices, and its support for more collective bargaining practices in the CCS. Finally, we also welcome the report’s call to the EC to adopt measures to ensure transparency and accountability of AI systems and algorithms, and to evaluate whether existing text and data mining exceptions are adequately balanced to meet the 3-step test in the context of generative AI.

Last week, CISAC, the biggest international network of collective management organisations, published its 2023 Global Collections Report, providing comprehensive data and analysis of collections across all repertoires including music, audiovisual, visual arts, literature, and drama. In the report, CISAC announced that global royalty collections reached a historical high point of €12.1 billion in 2022, growing by a record 26.7% in a full recovery from the pandemic. Driven by continued growth in digital income and a recovery in live and public performance, collections are now 19.8% higher than their pre-pandemic level, CISAC mentions. Meanwhile, digital collections rose to €4.2 billion, while digital income has doubled since the pre-COVID level of 2019 and is now, for the first time, creators’ biggest income stream with 35% of total collections.

On 19 October, ECSA member Syndicat français des Compositrices et Compositeurs de Musique Contemporaine (SMC) published a statement in which they reaffirm the primacy of human creation and authors’ rights over technological development. The statement also emphasises the need to support the 3-step test and welcomes SACEM’s decision to opt-out, while alarming about the ineffectiveness of the opt-out mechanism in practice.

The Ivors Classical Awards, celebrating creative excellence in composition for contemporary classical and sound art, has announced the nomination of 34 outstanding composers. The Ivors Classical Awards ceremony will take place at the BFI Southbank in London on Tuesday 14 November 2023. Find the full list of nominations below.

Are you passionate about your creator rights in the music industry? Do you want to get fair compensation and credits when your songs are used? Then here's something that you’ll want to be part of. Our friends from WIPO for Creators are on the lookout for music creators to test a new, free rights education platform. It takes 10 minutes at most and your feedback will help fellow creators all over the world.

The Dispositif 3e Personnage, part of the International Music & Cinema Festival in Marseille from 1 to 6 April 2024, invites producers, directors, and composers worldwide to submit proposals for original music in short films, feature films, and series. Submissions are open from 17 October to 17 December 2023. For more information, contact samya@music-cinema.com.