Worldwide COVID-19 has hit the cultural industries hard. Very hard. However, collective management succeeded in limiting the impact for performers. A survey that AEPO-ARTIS and SCAPR conducted among their members came to the conclusion that despite of a general drop in revenues, collective management organisations (CMOs) for performers were able to increase their distributions while looking for all ways possible to help out performers in need.

An overall decline in collections in 2020.

The vast majority of societies for the collective management of performers rights have experienced significant variation in their collection in 2020 (as compared to 2019) with an average 9% decrease. This is comparable to the impact of the crisis on collective management for authors rights, which was recently calculated by CISAC at 9.9%. This decline cannot be underestimated, but thankfully below the forecasts CMOs made themselves in 2020.

When we compare the different sources of income of CMOs, it is striking that the income from public performance has been hit particularly hard. 88% of the organisations have seen this collection significantly drop (up to -85%). With the cultural sector forced to staying closed even long after ending lockdowns, this was no surprise. Collection of broadcasting rights remained generally stable, however 39% did declare a decrease, mainly due to a drop in advertising investments from the broadcasters. Other traditional sources of income for CMOs, such as private copying, lending, renting and cable retransmission, remained mostly stable and have permitted CMOs to slow down the general decline.

Less in, more out!

Despite the general drop in revenue, from 848 million euro in 2019 to 776 million euro in 2020, CMO’s were able to stabilise the amounts they distributed in 2020. What’s more, half of them managed to pay their actors, musicians and dancers higher amounts than initially planned.

70% of CMOs have adapted their operations to better help their members in times of crisis. 61% brought forward distributions, 36% made additional efforts to lower their administrative costs. As a result the effective payments to performers increased from 585 million in 2019 to 664 million in 2020.

Limits to the engine

With the way their collections and distributions are organised, performers CMOs have been able to slow down the negative income curve for performers in 2020. However, with a drop in collections in 2020 and 2021, they will not be able to keep distributions at the same level in the years coming.

The majority (68%) of the societies that are able to predict future distributions anticipate a decline in payments, reflecting the drop in collections. Again, societies representing sound recording artists are more affected than audiovisual only societies. However, 64% of the respondents are still making efforts to bring the distribution forward (40%), to reduce operational costs (47%) and/or to maintain emergency funds (37%).

It is therefore disappointing to see that these organisations, that have proven to do everything in their capacity to assist the most affected sector, are themselves often left in the cold. 63% of CMOs have reported not being recognised as eligible to any emergency measure by their local authorities. This is all the more painful knowing that 56% of CMOs have consented (or have been forced to consent) to discounts, delays, exemptions or even refunds to users, mainly for public performance users. It is these exceptional measures that have impacted the collection of about 70% of all CMOs and have caused up to a 75% decrease of collection in certain areas.

While the members of SCAPR and AEPO-ARTIS have not been able to turn the crisis into a success story like some major online players have, they have shown to do what they were founded for: put the interests of performers first and be a stabilising factor in the turbulent career of the artist, even in the most turbulent times.

For more information please see press release here.

 

AEPO-ARTIS has published an animation summarising why performers’ remuneration rights and their collective management are important: https://vimeo.com/5060198 (et disponible avec des sous-titres en français ici: https://vimeo.com/543120344 )

 

A warm thank you to all of you who participated in the AEPO-ARTIS and SAA event yesterday (supported by the European Parliament’s Cultural Creators Friendship Group): Collective management: A safety net for authors and performers on 17 March 2021.

To those who signed up but unfortunately could not make it, the recording of the event can be watched here. https://vimeo.com/525452327

Our panel was moderated by Gregor Štibernik (CEO of the Collecting Society of Authors, Performers and Producers of Audiovisual Works of Slovenia). The guests were: Jochen Greve (screenwriter, Germany), Nacho Garcia Vega (musician, Spain), Cécile Despringre (Executive Director of the SAA), Yolanda Schweri (Member of the Board of SWISSPERFORM and Member of the Board of AEPO-ARTIS). With us we also had three Members of the European Parliament’s Cultural Creators Friendship Group: Alexis Georgoulis (GUE, Greece), Niklas Nienaß (the Greens, Germany) and Hannes Heide (S&D, Austria). Their biographies are here.

AEPO-ARTIS – is a non-profit making organisation that represents 36 European performers’ collective management organisations from 26 different countries. The number of performers represented by the 36 member organisations of AEPO-ARTIS can be estimated at between 400,000 and 500,000.
Press: Nicole Schulze, aepo-artis@aepo-artis.org, +32 2 280 19 34 @aepoartis

SAA – the Society of Audiovisual Authors is the association of European collective management organisations representing audiovisual authors. Its 33 members in 25 countries manage rights for over 160,000 film, television and multimedia European screenwriters and directors. Press: Annica Ryngbeck, a.ryngbeck@saa-authors.eu, +32 475 66 95 94. @saabrussels #WeLoveAuthors

CCFG – the Cultural Creators Friendship Group is a cross-partisan coalition in the European Parliament with members from six different political groups. We aim at improving the whole European cultural ecosystem, such as the Cultural and Creative Sectors and especially the situation and conditions of creators, for example authors, performers and artists.
@CultCreatorsEU

 

On 17 March 2021, European collective management organisations and their members came together to discuss how to secure fair remuneration for performers and audiovisual authors. 12 European performers, screenwriters and directors contributed with a clear message that they need their collective management organisations to be involved in the implementation of Article 18 of the Copyright Directive.

Watch the video from performers and audiovisual authors here.

THEIR MESSAGE (TRANSCRIBED):

In 2019, the EU adopted the Directive on Copyright in the Digital Single Market.
Article 18 of the Directive obliges Member States to make sure that we – authors and performers – receive fair remuneration for the exploitation of our work.
We call on Member States to implement this Directive properly and to ensure we receive fair remuneration.
We invest our passion, time, and money into our projects, but we rarely benefit from its success, particularly online.
So far, streaming and downloads have not given us the returns that we deserve.
Alone, it is difficult to defend our rights and royalties against the big on-demand platforms.
Together, as members of Collective Management Organisations, we are stronger and can make sure our rights are respected.
CMOs manages authors and performers’ rights on our behalf and in our best interest. They are our safety net.
We trust CMOs to defend our rights, negotiate with users, collect and distribute our royalties.
Article 18 would create an income stream for authors within the audiovisual sector and for all performers across Europe, independent of our contractual arrangements, and managed by our CMOs.
We deserve to be fairly remunerated for our work, right? Right!

 

IN THE VIDEO:

Robert Alberdingk Thijm, screenwriter, the Netherlands
Barbara Białowąs, director, Poland
Isabel Blanco, actress, Spain
Anne Bouvier, actress, France
Sebastian Cavazza, actor, Slovenia
Luc Dardenne, director, Belgium
Neil Dudgeon, actor, UK
Marie-Castille Mention-Schaar, director and screenwriter, France
Gregory Montel, actor, France
Katharina Mückstein, director, Austria
Kasia Rodowicz, singer, Poland
Ivana Sujova, screenwriter, Slovakia

The event was organised by the Association of European Performers’ Organisations (AEPO-ARTIS) and the Society of Audiovisual Authors (SAA), and supported by the European Parliament’s Cultural Creators Friendship Group (CCFG).

Quotes

“To make art is a hard work. It takes months, years to write a book or a screenplay. I live with my story night and day. I have no time left for negotiating or managing my rights. Writing for film and TV is a very isolated and competitive profession. That’s why I joined my CMO when I was a young author, otherwise I would be alone”.
Jochen Greve, screenwriter, Germany

“Unity is strength. Collectivity is the key here. CMOs can offer a common response and legal solutions to global troubles. I think CMOs are the strong arm that performers can hold onto during their whole career, in the good times and the bad”.
Nacho Garcia Vega, musician, Spain

“I have taken a new initiative, aiming at the establishment of a European Label or Certificate, for the platforms that play-and-pay fairly. With such a sign or a badge, citizens are informed and may make a consumption choice, and thus, prefer platforms that pay artists according to their played content.”
Alexis Georgoulis, actor and MEP (GUE/NGL, Greece)

Note to editors

AEPO-ARTIS – is a non-profit making organisation that represents 36 European performers’ collective management organisations from 26 different countries. The number of performers represented by the 36 member organisations of AEPO-ARTIS can be estimated at between 400,000 and 500,000.
Press: Nicole Schulze, aepo-artis@aepo-artis.org, +32 2 280 19 34 @aepoartis

SAA – the Society of Audiovisual Authors is the association of European collective management organisations representing audiovisual authors. Its 33 members in 25 countries manage rights for over 160,000 film, television and multimedia European screenwriters and directors. Press: Annica Ryngbeck, a.ryngbeck@saa-authors.eu, +32 475 66 95 94. @saabrussels #WeLoveAuthors

CCFG – the Cultural Creators Friendship Group is a cross-partisan coalition in the European Parliament with members from six different political groups. We aim at improving the whole European cultural ecosystem, such as the Cultural and Creative Sectors and especially the situation and conditions of creators, for example authors, performers and artists.
@CultCreatorsEU

 

 

INVITATION: Collective management: A safety net for authors and performers
17 March 2021, 11:00-12:30 (CET)

What do collective management organisations do and why are they important for authors and performers?

Hear from performers, audiovisual authors and their representative organisations about why collective management is an essential way to secure remuneration and the increased role it should play in the digital environment as part of the implementation of Article 18 of the new Copyright Directive.

The event is organised by the Association of European Performers’ Organisations and the Society of Audiovisual Authors and supported by the Parliament’s Cultural Creators Friendship Group.

REGISTER HERE https://bit.ly/37NxBXH

Moderator: Gregor Štibernik, CEO of the Collecting Society of Authors, Performers and Producers of Audiovisual Works of Slovenia

Guests:

• Fred Breinersdorfer, German screenwriter
• Nacho Garcia Vega, Spanish musician
• Barbara Hayes, Deputy Chief Executive of Authors’ Licensing and Collecting Society (UK) and Chair of the SAA
• Yolanda Schweri, Member of the Board of SWISSPERFORM and Member of the Board of AEPO-ARTIS
• Members of the European Parliament’s Cultural Creators Friendship Group:
  Alexis Georgoulis, Greek actor and MEP (GUE/NGL, Greece)
  Niklas Nienaß, MEP (Alliance 90/The Greens, Germany)
  Hannes Heide, MEP (S&D, Austria)

 

A concluding video message from European Authors and Performers
invitation is available in .pdf format here: Webinar Invitation and biographies of the moderator and speakers are available here: Biography Details

On 10 July, the Commission launched a “roadmap” consultation as part of its initiative to prepare an intellectual property action plan. This action plan will set out the Commission’s vision on the role of intellectual property and propose concrete initiatives to improve the IP framework and the way it is used in practice.

AEPO-ARTIS has submitted a detailed response, addressing those aspects of the consultation that are of relevance to performers.

The roadmap invited comments on shortcomings in the existing IP framework. This enabled AEPO-ARTIS to highlight the importance of the correct implementation of article 18 of the 2019 Copyright Directive (dealing with “appropriate and proportionate remuneration”) and restate its claim for an unwaivable right to remuneration subject to compulsory collective management in respect of on demand uses. It also provided the opportunity to point out that the benefits which may have been intended to reach performers by the introduction of article 17 dealing with the value gap will not in practice filter down to them.

In response to the Commission’s stated aim to “improve the quality and consistency of the IP framework”, AEPO-ARTIS was able to highlight the inequality and unfairness of the rights of performers in the audiovisual sector, compared to those in the audio sector.

The Commission referred to its intention to explore ways to: “promote better licensing and sharing of IP-protected assets”, particularly with regard to “an efficient use of high-quality rights-management metadata in the copyright market”. AEPO-ARTIS took this opportunity to highlight the fact that the rules applicable to collective management in the EU set up by Directive 2014/26 failed to ensure satisfactory access to the necessary data (held by producers) for collective management purposes.

In addition, AEPO-ARTIS raised the issue of the difficulties faced by performers arising from the COVID 19 pandemic.

The response in full is available here: AEPO-ARTIS Contribution to Commission Consultation on an IP Roadmap

Dear President von der Leyen,
Dear Commissioner Gabriel,

The COVID-19 pandemic has affected all countries in Europe, and it is already evident that performers have been heavily impacted with film and TV production as well as recording sessions coming to a halt, venues closed and performances and festivals cancelled. Performers, who are often in an already precarious situation being mostly self-employed or freelancers, combined with little or no access to social benefits, are now left without income.

Moreover, with the closing of shops, restaurants and other public places, collection of statutory remuneration for the use of recorded music and audiovisual works will drastically decrease and performers will be deprived of this important source of income in the coming months.

This situation, in addition to be specially alarming, is unfair, as in these confinement days their performances are bringing joy and entertainment to the millions of people confined at their homes, generating a huge income stream for certain digital platforms, most of them not even based in the EU. In other words, the only ones that are not benefiting from the mass consumption of audiovisual and music contents during the confinement are, precisely, the performers, one of the social groups most vulnerable to the economic crisis derived from COVID-19.

Performers’ collective management organisations are working hard in these difficult times to distribute remuneration earlier than originally anticipated and setting aside funds to assist with immediate economic pressures.

However, it is clear that the situation is too grave for performers’ organisations to be able to absorb the devastating impact of the COVID-19 pandemic themselves. Their funds will not be sufficient.

AEPO-ARTIS urges the European Commission and the Member States to take immediate action to support performers in a coordinated manner mitigating the negative economic consequences of the COVID-19 crisis.

What is therefore urgently needed is easy and swift access to financial support, a Solidarity Fund for Performers, to help them through the hardship caused by this unprecedented crisis to cover costs in the forthcoming weeks and months.

We would welcome an opportunity to discuss the creation of this Solidary Fund with you in further detail. In the meantime, we remain at your disposal should you require any further information and are looking forward to hearing from you.

Yours sincerely,

Tilo Gerlach
President, AEPO-ARTIS

The letter is available here: AEPO-ARTIS letter to President von der Leyen

PRESS RELEASE: Brussels, 7 November 2018:
The Association of European Performers’ Organisations, AEPO-ARTIS, held its annual seminar dedicated to “EU Copyright Acquis: 25 years of harmonisation. What is working for performers and what is not?” on 7 November 2018.

The AEPO-ARTIS seminar, amongst other issues, took stock of the European Commission’s proposal For a Directive on Copyright in the Digital Single Market, which is now being discussed in trilogue between the Council, the European Parliament and the European Commission.

In this regard, the fair remuneration of performers from on-demand services (iTunes, Netflix, Spotify, …) was at the heart of the discussion.

Supported by the findings of the 2018 AEPO-ARTIS study drawing upon data from 26 countries, available on the AEPO-ARTIS website, the economic situation of performers has barely changed after the introduction of the exclusive making available right in the 2001 Copyright Directive. The right is generally transferred in buy-out contracts to producers, with only few famous performers managing to negotiate the payment of royalties.

For most performers, however, this right has not been effective in practice despite the exponential growth of on demand streaming and download services, such as Spotify, iTunes and Netflix, in popularity, revenue and value. Performers are missing out of their fair share in this value uplift.

This is reflected in the findings of the AEPO-ARTIS study where it can be seen that in 2005, collections in respect of on demand services were effectively zero and by 2017, the amount collected by collective management organisations still only amounted to less than 2% of total collections. The EU law designed to protect and adequately reward performers has therefore failed.

Xavier Blanc, Secretary General of AEPO-ARTIS, partner of the FAIR INTERNET campaign, which represents over 500,000 performers across Europe, said: “It is unacceptable that still today the majority of performers receive no remuneration from downloading /streaming services such as iTunes, Spotify, Netflix, … EU legislators must free performers from the trap of their contracts”.

AEPO-ARTIS is pleased that the concern of over 500.000 performers in Europe has finally been heard by the European Parliament which introduced a new article -14 to the draft Copyright Directive.

This article asserts the principle that all performers should be paid a fair and proportional remuneration for all modes of exploitation, including for on-demand uses, and sends a clear signal against persistent and unacceptable buy-out practices.

While the European Parliament, unfortunately, falls short of granting performers an unwaivable right to receive remuneration directly from service providers making their performances available on demand, it nevertheless encourages Member States to achieve this aim by way of statutory remuneration mechanisms.

“We are grateful to the members of the European Parliament who are trying to make a real difference to performers in Europe and create a fair and stable creative industry for those at the heart of the value chain” concluded Tilo Gerlach, President of AEPO-ARTIS. “Article -14 is a first step in the right direction towards more equitable remuneration of performers that will be secured from on demand services through collective management which will hopefully be endorsed in the coming weeks during the trilogue negotiations”.

For more information:

Visit www.aepo-artis.org or contact
Nicole.Schulze@aepo-artis.org
+32 487 25 09 51

On 5 December 2016, AEPO-ARTIS and key representatives of the FAIR INTERNET campaign, gathered at the Solvay Library in Brussels, to take stock of the Commission’s draft Directive on Copyright with European Commission officials, Members of the European Parliament and Member States’ representatives.

The fair remuneration of performers from on-demand services (iTunes, Netflix, Spotify, …) was at the heart of the discussion with unanimous support from performers for the European Parliament and Member States to make key changes to the current draft Directive.

Xavier Blanc, Secretary General of AEPO-ARTIS said:

“The European Parliament and Member States have a once in a life time opportunity to ensure hundred of thousands of performers across Europe receive a fair share from on demand services. If unchanged, most performers in Europe will continue to be excluded from a thriving digital market receiving merely a symbolic fee for all types of exploitation of their performances and no additional payment for making their work available for on-demand services”.

 

Katja Holm, Danish actress and president of the Danish Actors Union added:

“Actors do work a lot in the limelight but it is often forgotten that, throughout their career, they face a very uncertain professional future. I am here in Brussels to express my support to the Fair Internet Campaign and to call on European legislators to honour their political commitments by ensuring that all actors can make a decent living from their work. We need EU law to also include a statutory right to be remunerated for the streaming/downloading of performances, which would guarantee that actors like me are treated fairly in the digital environment”.

Swedish artist Katarina Henryson, singer and founding member of the Real Group, performing on the night, concluded:

“Musicians, singers, actors, dancers, … are at the heart of creation. With more and more on-demand services being developed, performers, like me, rely on their rights to earn a living. Sadly, most of us do not get a fair share for the actual use of our performances via download and streaming services. European legislators have been sympathetic to the cause of artists. They now need to translate their words into action and introduce in the draft Directive on Copyright a right to remuneration for performers payable by on demand services and collected by performers’ collective management organisations”.

 

⇒ GIVE PERFORMERS THEIR FAIR SHARE!