Publications

ECSA’s core mission is to defend and promote the rights and interests of composers and songwriters at European and international level, with the aim of improving their social and economic conditions, as well as enhancing their artistic freedom. With this manifesto, our Alliance seeks to effectively champion the needs and priorities of music authors, helping to shape policies that support the growth and sustainability of the whole music sector. 

In January 2025, ECSA published its Report on Audiovisual Composers' Contracts. Drawing on consultations with our members from across Europe, the report outlines and denounces various harmful and persistent contractual challenges faced by European audiovisual composers, such as buyout contracts and work made for hire provisions, pseudo-publishing, and the waiving of moral rights. The report also provides seven key recommendations to tackle these harmful practices. 

In November 2024, ECSA published its Report on Gender Equality: "Fostering Gender Equality among Music Creators”, written in collaboration with ECSA’s Working Group on Diversity and Inclusion. Drawing on past efforts and initiatives from both within and beyond ECSA’s membership, the report provides seven recommendations for enhancing gender equality and stimulating discussions across our network.

In July 2023, ECSA published its vision on music streaming, which includes 6 major recommendations to fix streaming and make it sustainable for music creators and artists.

Composers and songwriters are the very source of artistic music creation. However, they often face insecure economic and social conditions, including precarious working conditions, low and fluctuating income, and weak bargaining power with their negotiating counterparts, placing them in a position of vulnerability and insecurity. On 13 November 2023, ECSA published its Fair Practice report, in which it further investigated these circumstances.