News from ECSA: September 2024

On 15 October, ECSA’s next Capacity Triangle panel will take place at the World Soundtrack Awards (WSA) Film Music Days in Ghent, Belgium. During the panel, Jesper Hansen (BFM, ECSA), Michel Bisceglia (composer), Barbara Persyn (Strike A Score), Jozefien Vanherpe (KU Leuven), and moderator Anselm Kreuzer (Composers’ Club, ECSA) will focus on the rise of AI services in music generation and the many questions on copyright it raises for film and audiovisual composers. Moreover, the panelists will reflect on what you can do as a composer to better protect yourself and your rights. The panel is organised with the support of Creative Europe. Tickets are available via WSA Ghent’s website.

Between 18-20 September, ECSA President Helienne Lindvall participated in the 2024 edition of the Reeperbahn Festival in Hamburg, Germany. On 18 September, Helienne took part in a Music Moves Europe Dialogue on fair remuneration in music streaming. The dialogue, organised in the context of the European Commission’s framework to support the music sector, and as a follow-up to the European Parliament’s report on music streaming, brought together music industry stakeholders to discuss how to jointly address issues around fair remuneration. On 20 September, Helienne participated to the panel “Follow the Money”, discussing how technologies can ensure fair and transparent artist compensation, together with Niclas Molinder (Music Rights Awareness Foundation, Salt), Jens Kindermann (GEMA), Pieter Dun­sel­man (Thomas St. John Group) and Jay Ahern (AFEM).

On 12 September, ECSA Secretary General Marc du Moulin spoke at the panel “AI and Culture: European, Canadian, and Quebec Perspectives” at the ALL IN conference in Montréal, Canada. Hosted by the Coalition for the Diversity of Cultural Expressions (CDCE), a Canadian association bringing together over 50 organisations of cultural sector professionals, the panel focused on the ethical and legal issues of AI and the challenges for creators, exploring ways to ensure that AI respects cultural diversity and creators’ rights through a cross-sectional discussion involving European, Canadian, and Quebec perspectives. Marc was joined by Margaret McGuffin (CEO, Music Publishers Canada), Moridja Kitenge Banza (Visual artist, Chair of Culture Montréal), and moderator Chloé Sondervorst (Director, CBC/Radio-Canada). A video recording of the panel is available below. We thank CDCE and ALL IN for a conference full of new insights!

On 5 September, Initiative Urheberrecht (German Copyright Initiative) unveiled a groundbreaking study titled “Copyright law & training of generative AI – technological and legal foundations”, authored by legal and AI experts Prof. Tim W. Dornis (University of Hannover) and Prof. Sebastian Stober (University of Magdeburg). In a keynote at the European Parliament, Prof. Dornis presented the main findings of the paper, which argues that the training of AI models constitutes copyright infringement. Member of the European Parliament (MEP) Axel Voss (EPP, Germany) introduced the event, after which Katharina Uppenbrink (Initiative Urheberrecht), Hanna Möllers (European Federation of Journalists) and composer Matthias Hornschuh (Initiative Urheberrecht) made interventions. Initiative Urheberrecht is a German platform representing 44 guilds and unions across the creative sectors, including ECSA members Composers’ Club, DEFKOM, and DTV. Find the full study (DE) and an executive summary (EN) below.

On 17 September, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen unveiled the portfolios assigned to each of the new 26 Commissioners-designate. Henna Virkkunen (Finland) was entrusted with the portfolio for Tech Sovereignty, Security and Democracy, overseeing matters related to artificial intelligence, copyright, and media (DG CNECT), while the portfolio for Education, Youth, Sport and Culture (DG EAC) was assigned to Glenn Micallef (Malta). According to Mr. Micallef’s mission letter, the two Commissioners have been tasked with working together to develop an AI strategy for the cultural and creative industries. As a next step, the Commissioners-designate will appear in public hearings at the European Parliament. ECSA warmly congratulates Ms. Virkkunen and Mr. Micallef on their appointment and looks forward to working with them on all relevant priorities for music authors.

On 28 August, Fair Trade Music International (FTMI) and the International Council of Music Creators (CIAM) released a white paper proposing a new legal right for generative AI, titled “The Remuneration of Music Creators for the Use of Their Works by Generative AI”. The paper, authored by law professor Daniel J. Gervais (Vanderbilt Law School), aims to address the challenge of ensuring compensation for music creators and their partners once most of the existing music has been used to train AI models. The paper proposes a new right to equitably address the ethical issues surrounding creator remuneration, as generative AI models generate output that compete with human creators’ work.

On 4 September, Sylvian Piat, the Director of Business of CISAC, presented and answered questions on CISAC’s work and the CIS-net platform during a meeting of ECSA’s Working Group on Collective Management Practices. CIS-net is a network of CMOs’ databases which aims to facilitate a more extensive and effective licensing of their repertoires and faster and more efficient distribution of revenues. Sylvain Piat’s presentation marked the second meeting of this newly-launched Working Group, whose objective is to facilitate discussions and exchanges of information and best practices across CMOs and among their members. We thank Sylvain Piat for this insightful presentation and look forward to continuing our exchange with CISAC.

On 26 September, the Constitutional Court of Belgium issued a ruling on the validity of the law transposing into Belgian law of the 2019 EU Directive on Copyright in the Digital Single Market, halting legal proceedings and referring 13 questions to the Court of Justice of the EU (CJEU). This ruling comes as five companies (including Spotify, Sony, and Google) filed lawsuits challenging, among other things, new statutory remuneration rights for authors and performers introduced by the Directive’s transposition into Belgian law in 2022. In particular, several of the questions referred to CJEU deal with a remuneration right for uses by online content-sharing service providers and streaming platforms, and the interpretation of the Directive’s Articles 15, 17 and 18. The CJEU ruling may have significant consequences on the interpretation of the CDSM Directive and on national laws implementing the Directive.

On Wednesday, 2 October, ECSA President Helienne Lindvall and ECSA Member and CIAM Vice-President Arriën Molema participate in the panel “Creative Entrepreneurship” together with Alexi Cory-Smith (Bella Figura Music) Jedd Katrancha (Downtown Music Holdings), Jamie Hartman (songwriter and entrepreneur,) Karen Beach (MyBRANDWORX/CYD), and Annette Barrett (IMPF). The panelists will dive into the intersections between creativity, business and entrepreneurship, while also focusing on what international bodies can bring to the table, as well as on what creators need from publishers in terms of business acumen. The panel is part of IMPF’s Global Music Summit in Palma de Mallorca, Spain, during which IMPF’s music publisher members, and other guests gather in talks, panels, and networking activities.

This year’s edition of Soundtrack_Zurich, a conference on film and music media organised on the sideline of the Zurich Film Festival, will take place on 4-6 October. The event brings together professionals from the audiovisual sector for panels, networking sessions, case studies and workshops addressing current issues in today's film and media music scene, including on AI, soft skills, music supervision and more. ECSA Secretary General Marc du Moulin will be speaking at the opening reception of the event, together with Christian Jungen (ZFF Festival Director), Michael P. Aust (SoundTrack_Zurich), Corinna Marschall (Director, MEDIA Desk Suisse), Andreas Wegelin (CEO, SUISA), Nicolas Rabaeus (SONART) and Pierre Funck (Forum Filmmusik).

On 12 September, three organisations representing North American music creators, including the Society of Composers & Lyricists (SCL), Music Creators North America (MCNA) and the Songwriters Guild of America (SGA), issued a statement of support for the NO FAKES Act, which was introduced to Congress on the same day. The Act would create a new federal intellectual property right allowing individuals control over the use of their visual likeness and voice, providing protection against AI deepfakes, voice clones, and other unapproved digital replicas.

Freemuse, an independent non-governmental organisation advocating for the freedom of artistic expression and cultural diversity, has published the latest edition of its State of Artistic Freedom report. The report provides an overview of the events impacting the state of artistic freedom in 2023. Find the full report via Freemuse's website below.

On 25 September, associate professor Jannick Kirk Sørensen (Aalborg University) joined a meeting of ECSA’s Working Group on Music Streaming to present his research on fairness as part Fair MusE, an EU-funded research project that aims to promote fairness and transparency in online music platforms. In particular, the project aims to raise awareness about how music algorithms, data collection, and exploitation models of social media and streaming platforms influence creators and audiences. We thank Jannick Kirk Sørensen for sharing his insights. If interested, you can participate in the research by sharing your streaming data. Participants will get access to an analysis of their own listening behaviour after the project’s conclusion. Find out how to participate at the link below.

As France and Canada renew their cooperation on AI and innovation, the French and Canadian Coalitions for the diversity of cultural expressions, two associations bringing together thousands of artists and cultural businesses, warn that innovation should not come at the expense of creators and rightsholders. In a letter published on 10 September, the two organisations highlight the risks posed by AI for the cultural sector and the need to mitigate them. While in France, the EU AI Act introduced some transparency obligations, legislation in Canada is still underway. The Canadian Coalition demands, among other things, that AI developers should be required to disclose detailed records of the works used for training. Citing France being the Country of Honour at the ALL IN conference in Montréal, the letter recalls the two countries’ ability to innovate while respecting creators. Read the letter in French via La Presse below.

As announced earlier, the Camille Awards ceremony, organised by ECSA and its members U2C, UNAC, and SNAC, will take place on 13 November 2024 at the Bibliothèque nationale de France (BnF) in Paris, France. During the ceremony, winners in the categories Best Film Score, Best Score for a Feature Documentary, Best Original Music for a Drama Series, and Outstanding Contribution will be revealed. The evening will feature performances of the Orchestre Pasdeloup to honour European film music. Information on how to register to attend (as a non-ECSA member or member of the three hosting member organisations) will be announced on ECSA’s channels in the coming days.

On 23 October, the next concert of the European Contemporary Composers Orchestra (ECCO) will take place in Ljubljana, Slovenia. The concert is organised by ECSA Member Society of Slovene Composers (Društvo slovenskih skladateljev) and is supported by Creative Europe, the Slovenian Ministry of Culture, and the Municipality of Ljubljana. The program includes seven pieces performed by the Dissonance Ensemble (Ansambel Dissonance). ECCO is a project dedicated to performing and promoting contemporary art music as well as reaching new audiences.

On 9 September, Dutch ECSA member BAM! Popauteurs, together with De Kunstenbond/Ntb, filed lawsuits against Universal Music on behalf of three artists. The cases relate to the supposedly unfair contracts when it comes to the distribution of income from music streaming. According to BAM!, with the current contracts, the three artists receive an unreasonably small share of the income from music streaming on the recording side. In the three lawsuits, the contracts of Universal with Arriën Molema (Room Eleven), Henk Westbroek and Marinus de Goederen (a balladeer) are being examined. Previous discussions between the parties involved have not led to a fair revision of the fees. The lawsuits will start at the court in Amsterdam on 9 October. Find more info (in Dutch) via BAM!'s website below.

On 6 September, Dutch ECSA member Nieuw Geneco presented the Nieuw Geneco Fair Practice Award 2024 to Wonderfeel Festival and Bauwien van der Meer for “their tireless efforts and commitment to fair and sustainable practice in new music”. By presenting the award, Nieuw Geneco focuses on fair practice, fee guidelines and good commissioning practices in new music. “Fair Practice is not only Fair Pay, but also working together throughout the chain on new commissions, performances, tours, media and new audiences”, Esther Gottschalk, director of Nieuw Geneco, said.