News from ECSA: July 2024

On 3 July, Anselm Kreuzer (Composers' Club President, ECSA Board Member), Marc du Moulin (Secretary General, ECSA), Katharina Uppenbrink (Managing Director, Initiative Urheberrecht) and Frank Jablonski (Greens Party of North Rhine-Westphalia) spoke in a panel about AI, music, and related policies at media music conference SoundTrack_Cologne in Cologne, Germany. Among other things, they touched upon AI’s rapid developments and the numerous questions it raises to music creators about how their rights can be protected when it comes to consent, credit, compensation and transparency. The recently adopted EU AI Act, its implementation, and the persisting questions around how it relates to existing copyright legislation and authors’ ability to reserve their rights were among the topics discussed. We thank SoundTrack_Cologne for another successful conference that brought together many media composers, policy makers, and other stakeholders.

On Tuesday, 23 July, the European Parliament committees elected their Chairs and Vice-Chairs for a two-and-a-half year term. Chairs fulfill an important role, as they represent the committees, coordinate their work, and oversee legislative negotiations. Nela Riehl (Greens/EFA, Germany) has been elected as the new Chair of the Committee on Culture and Education (CULT), whereas Ilhan Kyuchyuk (Renew, Bulgaria) has been elected as Chair of the Committee on Legal Affairs, competent on intellectual property, including copyright. ECSA warmly congratulates all Chairs and Vice-Chairs on their election, and looks forward to working with them on advancing important issues in the music and cultural sectors.

On 8 July, Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) Brando Benifei (S&D, IT), Svenja Hahn (Renew, DE), Katerina Konečná (The Left, CZ), Sergey Lagodinsky (Greens, DE), Kim Van Sparrentak (Greens, NL), Axel Voss (EPP, DE), and Kosma Złotowski (ECR, PL) sent a letter to the newly-launched AI Office, the EU Commission’s arm in charge of implementing the AI Act. In the letter, they call for the inclusion of civil society in the preparation of a code of practice for providers of AI models. The MEPs raised concerns about the initial plan of the Commission to only involve AI providers in the drafting of the code, which could potentially allow them to set their own rules and jeopardise the effectiveness of the code. Stressing the AI Act’s requirement that the AI Office consults a broad range of stakeholders, they warned that allowing powerful companies to influence the code would go against EU objectives for AI development. The story was originally reported by POLITICO’s Morning Tech.

On 30 July, the European Commission launched a call for expression of interest to participate in the drafting of a Code of Practice for general-purpose AI models. The call is open to AI providers, rightsholders, and industry organisations, as well as stakeholders from civil society, academia and independent experts. The drafting process will take place between September 2024 and April 2025, with the Code of Practice being presented in April 2025. Registrations are open until 25 August. In parallel, the EU legislator announced a multi-stakeholder consultation running from 30 July to 10 September. The results from this consultation will contribute to shaping a first draft of the Code of Practice, as well as inform the template for the summary of content used for the training of AI models.

On 4 July, Apulia Soundtrack Awards kicked off its third edition in Carovigno, Puglia, Italy, providing a platform for film music seminars, master classes, and workshops. During the conference, Luis Ivars (ECSA Board member and composer), Andy Hill (Film Scoring Academy of Europe) and Denis Furne (Editions Musicales François 1er) gave the masterclass sessions “Storytelling and film score – Think more like a filmmaker” and  “Scene-Reading for composers – Get to the heart of a scene", helping film composers in the early stages of their career to develop their skills as a composer while navigating through the film music business. Furthermore, on 6 July, the conference’s award ceremony took place, honoring composers in the categories Lifetime Achievement, Emerging Composer, International Composer of the Year, and Italian Composer of the Year. Find the full list of winners via SoundTrackFest below.

Are you a film composer in the early stages of your career? Do you want to gain the knowledge and skills needed to navigate through the film music business? In the frame of the Camille Awards, ECSA partners 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.

At the General Assembly of French ECSA member Syndicat National des Auteurs et des Compositeurs (SNAC), which took place on 21 June, François Peyrony was elected as the new President of the organisation. Peyrony has been a composer for theater, cinema, and audiovisual in the broad sense for more than 30 years. Find the press release, as well as the full composition of SNAC’s new Board, via the link below (in French). Best of luck to SNAC’s new President and the full Board for the upcoming period!

Last month, Norwegian ECSA member Norsk Komponistforening (Norwegian Society of Composers) announced that Knut Olaf Sunde was elected as its new Chairman, after Jørgen Karlstrøm has served for 8 years. We thank Jørgen for his work with ECSA and wish Knut Olaf Sunde all the best in his new role! Find the Norwegian Composers Association’s press release (in Norwegian) below.