News from ECSA: November 2024

On 14 November, ECSA Vice-President Zahra Mani held a keynote on music streaming at the second edition of the Initiative Urheberrecht Österreich conference in Vienna, Austria. The conference focused on Artificial Intelligence, remuneration, and music streaming and included numerous panels and keynotes on those topics. Building on the recent European Parliament report on the conditions of authors in music streaming, Zahra outlined how to fix the unsustainably low levels of remuneration of music creators, the lack of transparency of recommendation systems, and cultural diversity, as also outlined in ECSA’s article “Music Streaming: How to Make It Sustainable for Music Creators” (co-written by Helienne Lindvall and Tobias Stenkjær), published earlier this year in the European Liberal Forum’s Future Europe Journal. A recording of Zahra’s keynote (held in German) is available via the link below.

On 20 November, ECSA President Helienne Lindvall participated in the Artists' Rights Symposium in Washington DC. The symposium, which is supported by the Artist Rights Institute, focused on several key issues in the music industry, such as legal issues around Artificial Intelligence, including transparency obligations and the protection of creators’ rights; song metadata; and ticketing. Helienne participated in the panel "Bad Song Metadata, Unmatched Funds, KYC and What You Can Do About It", focusing on the importance of correct song metadata in order to get paid and credited correctly as a composer. Helienne was joined by Richard James Burgess (American Association of Independent Music), Abby North (North Music Group), Anjula Singh (SoundExchange) and moderator Christian L. Castle (Artist Rights Institute). Find more info on the symposium and the panel via Music Tech Policy.

On 1 November, ECSA President Helienne Lindvall participated in the panel “The Artist as a Catalyst for Social Change” at Nordic Music Days in Glasgow, Scotland. Together with panellists Natalie Hyacinth, Maja Ratkje, Tania Rubio, and Miké Thomsen, Helienne discussed the powerful role that artists, musicians, and composers can play in driving social change, sharing insights and examples of lobbying, disseminating ideas, and broadening public discourse. Nordic Music Days is a conference providing two days of exchange and discussion on current musical practices across the Nordic region and Scotland.

On 2-3 December, Music Export Poland, the Polish Music Market Council and the City of Bydgoszcz will organise the Bydgoszcz Music Summit in Bydgoszcz, Poland. Organised in preparation of the upcoming Polish Presidency of the Council of the EU, the conference will be an occasion to engage in conversations with policymakers and stakeholders from across the music sector. During the summit, ECSA’s European Affairs Officer Giacomo Bonetti will participate in a panel on copyright and the impact of streaming on the music industry’s future landscape. The conference will also include expert roundtables and discussions on a European Music Export Strategy, artists mobility, and more. ECSA looks forward to contributing to the discussions and raising important priorities for composers and songwriters.

On 14 November, as part of an ongoing consultation, the European Commission’s AI Office published the first draft of the Code of Practice for AI providers, requesting all stakeholders participating in the consultation to submit written feedback. Among other things, the Code of Practice will provide guidelines for AI providers on how to comply with the obligations of the EU AI Act, including the reservation of rights (Art. 4 DSM Directive). In parallel, the AI Office announced the first meetings of the Code of Practice Working Groups, which will contribute to further shaping the Code in a process lasting until April 2025. ECSA participates in Working Group 1 on transparency and copyright rules, which held its first meeting on 21 November. As part of the consultation, ECSA submitted its written feedback to the draft and is actively working to ensure that the Code requests the highest level of transparency in order to enable rightsholders to exercise their rights.

On 25 November, Initiative Urheberrecht (Authors’ Rights Initiative) organised its 12th Conference on Authors’ Rights in Berlin, Germany. Initiative Urheberrecht is a German platform representing 42 guilds and unions across the entire creative sector, including ECSA members Composers’ Club, DEFKOM, and DTV. This year’s conference focused on generative artificial intelligence, with special attention to licensing, legal action, and regulation. A recording of the conference is available via the link below on Initiative Urheberrecht’s website.

On 13 November, German music collecting society GEMA announced it had sued generative AI provider OpenAI for the unlicensed use of its members’ (composers, lyricists and music publishers) works in its chatbot application ChatGPT. In the lawsuit, which is the first one in the world filed by a collective management organisation against an AI provider, GEMA accuses the US company of reproducing copyrighted song lyrics by German authors without having obtained a licence or having paid its members. ECSA welcomes the legal action taken by GEMA to safeguard the value of human creativity and promote responsible generative AI models. In addition, GEMA has been particularly active in advocating for a responsible use of generative AI, having also published an AI Charter with 10 basic principles for the use of generative AI on 5 November, and a licensing model for generative AI in September.

On 13 December 2024, the French Ministry of Culture organises the Huitième journée d'économie de la culture on "Music streaming: recommendation systems and remuneration models". Among the topics to be discussed: the impact of algorithm-driven recommendation systems, their influence on music production and consumption, the issue of discoverability, and the comparison between user-centric and artist-centric payment systems.  More information and registrations can be found via the link below.

This month, ECSA published its Report on Gender Equality: "Fostering Gender Equality among Music Creators”, written in collaboration with ECSA’s Working Group on Diversity and Inclusion. Drawing on past efforts and initiatives from both within and beyond ECSA’s membership, the report provides seven recommendations for enhancing gender equality and stimulating discussions across our network. Moreover, the report showcases initiatives and efforts by our Members and the Working Group in the area of gender equality, and provides information on gender equality within the ECSA network.

Earlier this month, ECSA published its Charter on Sustainability, a step forward in our commitment to environmental sustainability. Rooted in the collaborative efforts of ECSA’s Sustainability Working Group, the Charter outlines a series of pledges that our alliance will strive to uphold, serving as both a guideline and an inspiration for our members.

On 27 November, UK ECSA Member the Ivors Academy announced the election of its new Board of Directors. We warmly congratulate ECSA Board Member Orphy Robinson with his election. The other elected members include Iain Archer, David Arnold, Fiona Bevan, Ines Dunn, Lizzie Esau, Paloma Faith, Tom Gray, Eve Horne, Dru Masters, Mika Sellens, Tinie Tempah and Ayanna Witter-Johnson. Find the full press release via the Ivors Academy website below.

Earlier this month, Belgian ECSA member Forum de la Création Musicale published a presentation video, introducing their organisation as well as their activities to the general public and institutions. Please find the video below.