News from ECSA: December 2025

On 8 December, the European Commission's Executive Vice President for Social Rights and Skills, Quality Jobs and Preparedness Roxana Minzatu and Commissioner for Intergenerational Fairness, Youth, Culture and Sport Glenn Micallef organised a high-level roundtable on artists’ working conditions. Several stakeholders from the cultural and creative sectors participated in the discussion. ECSA was represented by Secretary General Marc du Moulin, who reiterated that composers and songwriters are often exposed to irregular income, coercive market practices and precarious working conditions. Marc specifically called for AgoraEU to include meaningful and robust conditionality measures and a coherent sector-specific policy for music; AI legislation to be centered around the key principles of authorisation, remuneration and transparency; and a follow-up by the European Commission on the European Parliament’s report on music streaming, which should serve as a step towards a fairer and more sustainable ecosystem for music streaming. We thank the two hosting Commissioners for their invitation and look forward to seeing new measures to improve the working conditions of our members.

On 1 December, during a dedicated ECSA Tech & AI Working Group meeting, ECSA members had the pleasure to welcome Simon Gozzi, Head of Business Development & Industry Insight at STIM, Sweden’s Collective Management Organisation. During the meeting, Simon presented STIM’s licensing framework for AI and their recent licensing deal with AI company Songfox. The presentation was followed by a lively Q&A with ECSA members. We warmly thank Simon for his time and look forward to continuing our dialogue with STIM on these important topics.

Last month, ECSA submitted its feedback to the European Commission’s public consultation on “the EU’s next long-term budget (MFF) – EU funding for cross-border education, training and solidarity, young people, media, culture, and creative sectors, values, and civil society”. In the response, we welcome the proposal to establish AgoraEU. We see the proposed 1.796 billion allocation to the Creative Europe Culture strand (21% of AgoraEU) as a positive step forward, but we stress that this must be viewed as a baseline rather than a ceiling. We also encourage mainstreaming funding to culture and creativity across other MFF programmes. In the response, we call for a music sector-specific approach, which has been supported by both EU Culture Ministers and the European Parliament. We are eager to engage in a structured and regular dialogue with policymakers and remain ready to share our expertise towards effective solutions for the music sector and creators’ evolving needs. Read our full contribution below.

Earlier this month, the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) granted ECSA observer status in its Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights. The Committee examines substantive law topics in the field of copyright and related rights and makes recommendations to the WIPO General Assembly. It includes all member states of WIPO and/or of the Berne Union. Observers of the committee consist of UN members that are non-members of WIPO and/or the Berne Union as well as many intergovernmental and non-governmental organisations. ECSA looks forward to sharing its views on issues related to copyright and to representing the voice of composers and songwriters at an international stage.

On 8 December, the Danish Presidency of the EU shared the results of a consultation with Member States on copyright and AI, which took a look at both Article 15 of the DSM Directive and licensing in the context of AI. In the consultation, Member States highlighted various key points, including ongoing challenges for creators and other rightsholders, in particular the lack of consent, remuneration and transparency, as well as limited means for them to detect infringements and enforce their rights; a call for immediate action to increase transparency and facilitate licensing for AI; the urge to tackle at EU level creators’ remuneration, licensing and the functioning of the reservation of rights; and the legal uncertainty as to which copyright-related acts take place in the training, distribution, and output generation phases of the AI models. To address these issues, Member States proposed several new measures, which you can find in the document below. We thank the Danish Presidency for organising this consultation and encourage the European Commission and European Parliament to take them into account.

Earlier this month, CISAC, the world's leading network of Collective Management Organisations, has launched the ISWC IPI Context Search, a new service designed to help music publishers quickly and accurately identify creator Interested Party Information (IPI) numbers. This should allow music publishers to search for creator IPI numbers using a creator’s name and one or more known musical work titles, which should eventually make improvement in ensuring correct work registration and royalty allocation possible. Find more info in CISAC’s press release below.

Earlier this month, ECSA opened the Call for Nominations for the 2026 edition of the Camille Awards. All ECSA member organisations that represent media composers are eligible to submit their nomination for the categories Best Original Film Score, Best Original Music for a Drama Series, and Best Original Score for a Feature Documentary. Applications are open until 16 February 2026.

The European Music Council (EMC) has opened applications for the EMC Fellowship Programme. The programme offers emerging professionals working in the field of music the opportunity to internationalise their careers and to develop professionally. The programme runs for two years, during which up to ten individuals may take part in the European Forum on Music (EFM), get access to EMC events, and be included in the EMC’s internal membership communication. Applications run until 27 January 2026. Find more info via EMC below.