News from ECSA: June 2024

On 3 July, 10:30 CET, media music conference SoundTrack_Cologne hosts a panel on AI, music, and policy. AI’s rapid developments continue to raise serious questions to music creators about how their rights can be protected when it comes to consent, credit, compensation and transparency. Although the recent adoption of the EU AI Act marks the first major regulation on AI, many questions on the implementation of the AI Act persist and are still open to interpretation. How does the AI Act relate to existing copyright legislation? Will authors have an ability to reserve their rights? During the panel, Anselm Kreuzer (German Composers' Club President, ECSA Board Member), Katharina Uppenbrink (Managing Director, Initiative Urheberrecht), Frank Jablonski (Greens Party of North Rhine-Westphalia) and Marc du Moulin (Secretary General, ECSA) will guide you through these questions.

On 5 June, Buma Music in Motion (BMIM) and ECSA co-organised a panel on contract negotiation for media composers at the BMIM Special in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Anselm Kreuzer (German Composers' Club President, ECSA Board Member), Valerie Dobbelaere (Strike A Score), Marc Huiskamp (BumaStemra) and moderator Mark Gordon (Score Draw Music) discussed contracts with streamers, buyouts, royalties, publishing rights and much more. As stated by Anselm Kreuzer during the panel: “rights don’t necessarily have to be exclusive; in certain cases you can negotiate for a non-exclusive rights transfer. You are allowed to ask for better conditions.” We warmly thank BMIM for an excellent conference!

On 22 June, Iran’s Supreme Court overturned the death sentence against rapper Toomaj Salehi on the basis that it was contrary to Iranian law and excessive. Salehi was initially sentenced for his support to the demonstrations that followed the death of Mahsa Amini, who was arrested in 2022 for violating the dress code imposed on women, and died three days later while detained by the police. "Salehi has done nothing other than to call for his, and other Iranians’, fundamental rights to be respected”, campaign group Index on Censorship, who have been working with Salehi's family to free the rapper, stated. Last month, the International Federation of Musicians (FIM), the International Music Council (IMC), and ECSA raised concerns about Salehi’s death sentence in a statement.

On 7 June, ECSA President Helienne Lindvall featured in the panel “Equity in music streaming”, organised in the frame of the European Music Council (EMC)’s European Forum on Music (EFM) in Sofia, Bulgaria, with ‘’Equity in Music” being the overarching theme. The panel also featured Burak Özgen (GESAC), Sandra Tinner (Swiss Music Council), Ruth Koleva (Association of Independent Music Publishers and Producers in Bulgaria), and moderator Davide Grosso (International Music Council). The panelists explored alternative models of music streaming that offer fair recognition and remuneration for all works, and provided insights into current streaming practices and remuneration models. During the panel, Helienne stressed the need to fix music streaming and make it sustainable for music creators. Many thanks to the EMC for having us!

On 7 June, on the occasion of the third anniversary of the EU Copyright Directive’s entry into force, the European Writers’ Council (EWC) published a report on the impact of the Directive’s articles 18 to 23 on the contractual situation of writers in Europe. Gathering responses from 23 organisations across 19 countries, the report collected data on issues related to the transfer of rights, remuneration, digital uses, transparency, and lending. The results indicate that the implementation of certain legal provisions is still incomplete, in particular with respect to appropriate remuneration and transparency on the use of authors’ works on streaming and digital platforms. EWC calls on the EU to ensure that the Directive is enforced properly, stressing that “legislative terms must not remain only theoretical”.

Between 6-9 June, EU citizens elected the new Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) for the next legislative term (2024-2029). While the overall composition of the Parliament shifted to the right, and far-right parties are expected to have more sway in the next legislature, the current “grand coalition” between the centre-right European People’s Party (EPP), the centre-left Socialists and Democrats (S&D) and the liberal Renew Europe group is expected to be renewed. The newly elected Parliament will hold its first plenary session in Strasbourg between 16-19 July. ECSA congratulates the newly elected MEPs and looks forward to collaborating with them to address priorities and challenges for music authors.

On 19 June, ECSA revealed the nominees of the 2024 edition of the Camille Awards. This year, the Camille Awards will honour composers of original music for audiovisual works in the categories “Best Film Score”, “Best Score for a Feature Documentary” and “Best Original Music for a Drama Series”. An international jury of renowned composers will now elect the final winners in each category. The winners will be announced at the Camille Awards ceremony, taking place on 13 November at the Bibliothèque nationale de France (site François-Mitterrand) in Paris, France. Find the full list of nominees in the press release below.

On 11 June, ECSA announced that Miriam Cutler (US) will be honoured with an Outstanding Contribution Award at the 2024 edition of the Camille Awards, in recognition of her long and exceptional career both as a composer and an outstanding advocate for inclusivity in the world of film music. In receiving this award, Miriam Cutler joins a select group of distinguished composers, including Maestro Ennio Morricone, who received the award in 2020. ECSA congratulates Miriam Cutler with this achievement.

On 21 June, we celebrated World Music Day (Fête de la musique) by sharing the 2024 edition of the "Discover ECSA's Music Creators'' playlist. Each year, ECSA publishes a collection of compositions and songs coming from the composers represented by our members. With this year’s theme, "Celebrating Female Composers", we celebrate the works of our members’ female composers, in order to foster a more diverse and inclusive landscape for music creators. Delve into the playlist and listen to more than 40 songs coming from 17 ECSA member organisations.

In the frame of the Camille Awards, we are happy to once again partner up with OTICONS Film Music Composers Agency to organise the “Film Music Business Career Mentoring for European Film Composers”; a 2-day online mentoring course performed by George Christopoulos (Founder & CEO of Oticons) for one or two lucky winners. The course offers career advice and industry insights, to help the winner(s) carve a realistic, efficient and successful career path as film composer. Interested? Submissions are open until 25 August.

On 14 June, the German associations of songwriters and lyricists VERSO and DTV, both members of ECSA, published a joint statement denouncing the challenges faced by authors in the current music streaming ecosystem. Among several issues, the statement denounces the pro-rata model’s threat to cultural diversity, the low levels of authors’ remuneration from streaming, and the domination of the music rights market by a few powerful players. The statement also highlights the impact of generative AI on the music industry and the need for transparency from AI providers. Planning to increase their cooperation, DTV and VERSO call for representatives from policy makers, the music industry, and media to exchange ideas and urgently act on these issues. Read the full statement below via GEMA (in German).

On 2 June, ECSA Board Member and NOPA Board President Ole Henrik Antonsen was elected as Chair of Norwegian Collective Management Organisation TONO. Among others, he will be joined by NOPA Vice President Samsaya Sampda Sharma, who was elected as Deputy of the Board. The newly elected Board has announced that establishing a new distribution model that fully complies with CISAC rules and the Collective Management Act will be its top priority for the coming months. ECSA congratulates Ole Henrik and Samsaya with their election. Find more info via NOPA below.