News from ECSA: May 2025

On 28 May, the latest panel in our Creators Talk series took place at Buma Music in Motion’s BMIM Special in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. The panel, titled “Contracts Under Pressure: How to Protect the Composer” featured composers Nainita Desai and Hans Everling (BCMM), and ECSA Secretary General Marc du Moulin, and was moderated by composer and ECSA Vice-President Jesper Hansen. The four shared a range of insights on how we can better protect audiovisual composers from unfair contracts. Our report on audiovisual composers’ contracts shows that buyouts, pseudo-publishing and lack of transparency too often deprive composers of their rights and remuneration. The panelists highlighted what can be done at international and national level to bring a halt to such practices, and emphasised the importance for composers to be aware of their rights. The panel was co-funded by Creative Europe. We warmly thank BMIM for a great conference.

On 13 May, Classical:NEXT and ECSA co-organised another Creators Talks panel, titled “Discoverability and cultural diversity in the digital age: Where do we stand and what are the future trends?” at global networking and exchange conference for classical and art music Classical:NEXT in Berlin, Germany. During the panel, Esther Gottschalk (Director, Nieuw Geneco), Zahra Mani (ECSA Vice-President) and Dr. Jannick Kirk Sørensen (Associate Professor, Aalborg University) exchanged insights on how we can enhance the prominence and visibility of European works on music streaming services, while promoting European cultural diversity and niche repertoires. They particularly focused on the issue of availability and accessibility of cultural content, and how the multifaceted role of algorithmic recommendations affect cultural diversity.  The panel was co-funded by Creative Europe. We thank Classical:NEXT for hosting an engaging conference.

On 6 May, ECSA, together with many other authors' and performers' organisations across the cultural and creative sectors, sent a joint letter to the EU's Ministers of Culture ahead of the Education, Youth, Culture and Sport Council that took place on 12-13 May. Ahead of the meeting, Spain, Portugal, Italy and Hungary called for a discussion on the value of the cultural and creative sectors in AI development, including the importance of safeguarding copyright and related rights. The four countries advocated for a joint and coordinated intervention, ensuring legal certainty and total transparency of protected data used in GPAI models, and enabling complete alignment of the GPAI Code of Practice with EU copyright law and the AI Act itself. In our open letter, we strongly support Spain and Portugal's call: efficient transparency obligations and the respect for copyright law are essential to stay faithful to the AI Act and to foster the development of ethical and responsible AI. The letter also stresses the need for a democratic debate on the impact of generative AI on human artistry and on the cultural and creative sectors. Read the full letter below.

Last month, ECSA signed Creators for Europe United's open letter, joining a large group of organisations and representatives from the media and cultural industries from all over Europe. The letter, addressed to the European Commission's Executive Vice-President Virkkunen, calls for decisive action to ensure a fair, transparent and legally compliant development of Artificial Intelligence. Billions of creative works are being used as the basis for AI systems without rightsholders' knowledge, consent, nor remuneration. The letter therefore calls for: full transparency about all works, contributions and performances that have been and will be used for training generative AI models and other purposes; adequate remuneration for the use of creators’ works; consistent enforcement of applicable copyright laws; and involvement of the culture, creative and media industries in all regulatory processes for AI governance.

Last month, ECSA signed an open letter from various EU and UK organizations involved in touring and the performing arts, asking the presidents of the European Commission and the European Council as well as the UK Prime Minister to redouble their efforts to reach agreements on frictionless touring between the UK and Europe. The letter warns that the current arrangements for UK acts touring the EU and EU acts touring the UK are “not working” and are depriving millions of music fans of the chance to see their favourite acts perform live. We are pleased to see that during the EU-UK Summit held in London on 19 May, EU and UK leaders recognised the value of travel and cultural and artistic exchanges, including the activities of touring artists. Find the open letter below via Pearle.

On 12 May, ECSA signed a global statement on artistic freedom, cultural diversity, and cultural sovereignty, joining a large group of creators, professionals, companies, and organisations from the film and audiovisual sector around the world, along with culturally engaged citizens. The statement calls on all governments to stand firm and safeguard the systems that support independent film and audiovisual creation. As the support for independent film and audiovisual storytelling is under growing threat, it is more important than ever to ensure that culture, creativity, and democratic access to diverse stories for the screen can continue to flourish. Find the full letter below.

On 13 May, EU Ministers in the Education, Youth, Culture and Sports Council approved the Council conclusions on “supporting young artists and cultural and creative professionals in starting their careers”. The document calls to promote appropriate conditions for the social and professional situation of young artists and professionals as a key issue within future EU policy frameworks and puts forward important recommendations for EU Member States and the European Commission. Among other things, it calls on them to recognise and encourage research into the precarious professional situation of young artists and cultural and creative professionals, stimulate their professional development and facilitate the acquisition of competences, and further develop Creative Europe co-funded existing thematic networks for artists and professionals. We highly welcome the conclusions, but also emphasise that support for young artists and professionals must go hand in hand with respecting and promoting the value of their works, in particular when those are exploited by AI companies or streaming platforms.

On 13 May, ECSA participated in an exchange with Platform Makers, a coalition of 20 Dutch organisations representing authors, performers and other creative professionals including ECSA members BAM! Popauteurs, BCMM, Nieuw Geneco and VCTN. In addition to ECSA’s Secretary General Marc du Moulin and European Affairs Officer Giacomo Bonetti, the meeting saw the participation of Nicole Pfister Fetz (European Writers’ Council) and Cécile Despringre (Society of Audiovisual Authors). The four organisations outlined their advocacy priorities and exchanged views on tackling the challenges for authors and other rightsholders posed by generative AI and issues in the implementation of the EU AI Act.

At the end of last year, the European Commission called for a new strategic framework for EU cultural policy, dubbed the “Culture Compass”, which aims to “improve the consistency of EU policies and strengthen coordination between funding and policy”. The Commission has published a call for evidence, taking into account feedback as they further develop and fine-tune the initiative. This month, ECSA handed in a contribution to the call, in which it calls on the Commission to base the Culture Compass on various recent EU initiatives such as the European Parliament reports on the social and professional situation of artists in the cultural and creative sectors and on cultural diversity and the conditions for authors in the European music streaming market, the Open Method of Coordination report on the status and working conditions of artists and cultural and creative professionals, and the recent Council conclusions on supporting young artists and cultural and creative professionals, among other things. In the contribution, we also reiterated our four key recommendations to EU policy makers as previously outlined in our Manifesto. ECSA is eager to engage in a structured and regular dialogue with the European Commission to ensure the Compass truly reflects the needs of music creators and the realities of the whole european music sector. 

Last month, a broad coalition of authors, performers and other rightsholders organisations kickstarted the #StayTrueToTheAct campaign, calling for a meaningful implementation of the EU AI Act while upholding the principles of transparency, consent, and remuneration. One of the AI Act's key objectives is to provide authors, performers and other rightsholders tools to exercise and enforce their rights in line with those principles. However, we are concerned that the implementation standard of the AI Act is being brought to a level so low that it results in a step away from this objective. Instead, it would create legal uncertainty, misinterpret EU copyright law and undercut the obligations set out in the AI Act itself. It is therefore time to #StayTrueToTheAct.

On 20 May, the Culture and Education (CULT) Committee of the European Parliament hosted a public hearing on “Empowering creators in the age of AI”. After MEP Bogdan Andrzej Zdrojewski (EPP, Poland) opened the event, Alexandra Bensamoun (Law professor, Université Paris-Saclay), Ivona Tau (artist, AI engineer), Svetoslav Georgiev (founder, BG Content Ltd) and Björn Ulvaeus (President, CISAC) delivered keynote speeches. Notably, Alexandra Bensamoun’s keynote focussed on the need for transparency in the training of AI as a basis to build an ethical AI licensing market, while Björn Ulvaeus called on the EU to implement the AI Act in a way that safeguards copyright and provides meaningful and enforceable rules allowing for transparency, consent and remuneration of creators. Several MEPs, including Emma Rafowicz (S&D, France), Laurence Farreng (Renew, France), Helder Sousa Silva (EPP, Portugal), Manuela Ripa (EPP, Germany) and Diana Riba I Giner (Greens/EFA, Spain) expressed their support for creators’ rights, transparency and the cultural and creative sectors. Find a recording of the session below.

On 1-3 July, the French Ministry of Culture organises the 11th edition of the Forum Entreprendre dans la Culture (Entrepreneurship in Culture Forum) at the École nationale supérieure d'architecture de Paris-Belleville in Paris, France. On 1 July, ECSA Secretary General Marc du Moulin will speak at the roundtable discussion Union européenne : quel soutien pour la musique ? (“European Union: What support for music?”), together with Corinne Sadki (Centre national de la musique) and Judith Videcoq (European Commission). The roundtable will be moderated by European Affairs and Music Policy Consultant Fabien Miclet. Find more info on this link.

On 24 May, the Festival Internacional de Cine de Alicante (Alicante International Film Festival) awarded ECSA Honorary Vice-President and film composer Luis Ivars (Musimagen, Spain) with the Premio Música para la Imagen (Music for Image Award). Luis received the award during the festival’s closing ceremony in recognition of his dedication and talent in composing film music throughout his career. We warmly congratulate Luis with this award.

On 28 May, French ECSA member U2C (Union des Compositrices et Compositeurs) presented its Prix U2C de la Musique à l'image (U2C Awards for Music for the Screen) in front of an audience full of screen composers in Paris, France. Musical performances during the ceremony were delivered by Isabelle Durin, Michael Ertzscheid, Alex Beaupain, and Jean-Michel Bernard. ECSA congratulates all winners and nominees. Find the list of winners in U2C’s press release.

On 30 April, ECSA member Screen Composers Guild of Ireland and Creative Europe Desk Ireland hosted a networking lunch in Dublin, focusing on AI. During the event, ECSA President Helienne Lindvall delivered a keynote as a guest speaker. Helienne focused on the current challenges and opportunities facing audiovisual composers in the age of AI, while also outlining the current developments in EU legislation around the EU AI Act, ECSA’s recent advocacy work on this topic, and the challenges of audiovisual composers beyond AI. After this, Helienne, Sarah Glennanne (CEO, Screen Composers Guild of Ireland), and James Morris (Director, Screen Composers Guild of Ireland) also met with Irish Minister of State for Trade Promotion, AI and Digital Transformation Niamh Smyth (Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment) to discuss generative AI, copyright and the creative industries. We thank minister Niamh Smyth, Screen Composers Guild of Ireland, and Creative Europe Desk Ireland for these fruitful exchanges.

On 29 April, ECSA Board member Anselm Kreuzer (Composers’ Club, Germany) gave a keynote on music streaming at a workshop organised by Initiative Urheberrecht (German Copyright Initiative) in Berlin. During the keynote, Anselm highlighted ECSA’s recommendations and viewpoints on how to fix music streaming and make it sustainable for music creators, while also shedding light on the European Parliament report “Cultural diversity and the conditions for authors in the European music streaming market”. Many thanks to Initiative Urheberrecht for making the voice of music authors heard on this vital issue.

Submissions for the 2025 World Soundtrack Awards (WSA) Ghent are now open until 15 June 2025. For six of the WSA's most prestigious awards, the longlists consist of submissions made by composers and their entourage. In order to submit for the categories Film Composer of the Year, Television Composer of the Year, Best Original Song and WSA Game Music Award, academy membership is required. Membership, however, is not required to submit for the Discovery of the Year Award and Belgian Film Composer of the Year. Find more info on the submission criteria via WSA below.

Freemuse, an independent non-governmental organisation advocating for the freedom of artistic expression and cultural diversity, has published the 2025 edition of its State of Artistic Freedom report. The report identifies key global trends that shaped the artistic landscape in 2024, and shows that artists across the globe are being silenced, through arrest, threats, and censorship. Find the full report via Freemuse's website below.