On 27 May, AEPO-ARTIS held its annual conference in Brussels, this year entitled Performers’ FAIR Remuneration as an EU Objective. The event attracted over 100 participants, with more than half representing external stakeholders from across Europe, including policymakers from the European institutions, representatives of national Permanent Representations and a diverse range of others from the creative industry. It was also attended by a very large number of AEPO-ARTIS members, making it the most well-attended AEPO-ARTIS conference organised in recent years.
The conference opened with video messages from two Vice-Chairs of the European Parliament’s Committee on Culture and Education (Ms. Diana Riba I Giner and Ms. Emma Rafowicz) both of whom emphasised their support for performers and acknowledged the need for their fair remuneration. This was followed by a powerful intervention from the Croatian actress Bojana Gregorić-Vejzović, who shared personal insights into the realities of performers’ working lives and the precarious nature of their income under the existing legal framework.
The first panel on the “Concept of FAIR remuneration” opened with a presentation on the legal concept of fairness in EU law, delivered by Professor Giuseppe Mazziotti (leader of the FairMusE project), which was followed by a commentary from Tilo Gerlach (GVL) on the EU legal framework applicable to performers and how it was not satisfactory for German performers.
Catherine Magnant (Head of Unit for Cultural Policy, DG EAC) delivered reassuring views that the Commission was aware that fair remuneration remains something on their agenda. Finally, Tom Gray (musician and chair of the Ivors Academy campaign) argued that the concept of “fairness” is one that the public inherently understands and referred to a survey where they expressed the view that performers were treated unfairly.
This was followed by a panel on the Role of the Beijing Treaty for FAIR remuneration of actors which began with a presentation by Ioan Kaes (AEPO-ARTIS) on the state of the EU ratification of the Beijing Treaty.
Patricia Riera-Barsallo (AISGE) and Christophe Van Vaerenbergh (PLAYRIGHT) both stressed the need for an urgent ratification by the EU in order to strengthen performers rights, increase the collection of remuneration at the global level for all performers and to bring parity between performers in the audio and audiovisual sectors. Dominick Luquer (FIA) explained that these concerns were equally shared by the unions. Additionally, Bojana Gregorić-Vejzović stressed that for actors it is important that the concept of fair remuneration applies to every type of exploitation, whether it be traditional linear broadcasting or modern forms of online retransmissions and streaming services. Whenever a performance reaches an audience through a screen, remuneration should be paid.
The third panel addressed the challenges of Generative AI and FAIR remuneration. Professor Alain Strowel (UCLouvain) provided a legal analysis of how statutory remuneration rights may apply in AI contexts. He was joined by Lise Guterstam (SAMI) and Elizabeth Le Hot (ADAMI), who offered legal and practical perspectives on how collective management organisations can protect performers and monetise their rights when their work is used in AI training and output generation as well as the recent exercise of the opt-out by the French CMOs, ADAMI and SPEDIDAM. Additionally, Laetitia Nguala Masamba (EVA) explained how this issue affects the visual arts sector in the same manner.
Finally, the last panel was dedicated to the Assessment of Chapter 3 of the CDSM directive on FAIR remuneration. It began with a presentation by Professor Séverine Dusollier (Sciences Po Law School) on the legal content of chapter 3 and an explanation of how the introduction of a right to equitable remuneration would be both legally valid and remunerate performers fairly.
Sabina Tsakova (Deputy Head of Copyright Unit, DG CONNECT, European Commission) presented the practical details of the Commission’s 2026 review of the directive, explaining that a study would shortly be launched looking at its implementation. Pál Tomori (EJI) expressed his deep frustration at the failure of the directive to create meaningful progress for performers, while Katarzyna Kuza (Counsellor, Permanent Representation of Poland to the EU) explained some of the work that the Polish presidency had undertaken and in particular the fact that the findings of their questionnaire on collective management would be published in June.
AEPO-ARTIS extends its appreciation to its members for their presence and engagement both on the panels and in the audience, as well as to the external speakers who gave their time to contribute to our conference.
You can find more photos from the conference here.
Watch the video of the conference below.
