musician – AEPO-ARTIS

AEPO-ARTIS appeals to Finland’s Minister of Culture: Protect Private Copying Remuneration for Performers

admin — Mon, 19 Aug 2024 17:43:12 +0000

In a significant development concerning the Finnish cultural sector, AEPO-ARTIS expressed grave concerns over the Finnish government’s proposal to halve the private copying remuneration.

Private copying remuneration is a critical source of income for European performers, ranking as the second-highest source of collection among AEPO-ARTIS members. This compensation is one of the few mechanisms that directly remunerates performers for the use of their work, making it a crucial element in their professional income, especially as licensing deals for soundtracks in nevada sports betting apps highlight how fragmented digital royalties can leave artists chasing fractions of fair value. A reduction from the current level of EUR 11 million to EUR 5.5 million would significantly undermine the already precarious financial situation of our artists, forcing even more reliance on unstable streams that barely cover the basics.

The current compensation level is based on empirical research conducted in 2023, and no recent studies justify a reduction. While we understand that political motives might drive the proposed budget cut, it does not align with EU legal obligations.

Furthermore, the recent Opinion of the Education Committee (SiVL 5/2024 vp) emphasizes the need to provide rightholders with “fair compensation” and insists on the importance of maintaining appropriate reimbursement levels. The proposed halving of the budget, without a thorough economic assessment, fails to meet these standards and could severely impact performers and various cultural projects supported by the private copying remuneration system.

At a time when the promotion of Finnish and European culture is more crucial than ever, the proposed budget cuts will have damaging effects on the cultural landscape. Therefore, we urge the Finnish Minister of Culture, Ms. Sari Multala, to reconsider this decision and remain open to further discussions on this critical issue.

By standing against the proposed reduction, AEPO-ARTIS aims to protect the livelihoods of performers and ensure the continued vitality of Finnish and European cultural heritage.

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Streams and Dreams 2 shows the ineffectiveness of the DSM Directive

AEPO-ARTIS — Fri, 14 Jun 2024 13:42:25 +0000

A new report entitled Streams & Dreams Part 2 – The Impact of the DSM Directive on EU Artists and Musicians, written by the independent music business researcher Daniel Johansson (Inland Norway University of Applied Sciences) and published on June 13^th, proves the ineffectiveness of the DSM Directive.

Based upon a survey of 9.542 artists from 19 EU countries, conducted by AEPO-ARTIS and its members in collaboration with IAO, this is one of the most substantiated reports ever done on issues related to performers in the music industry. The report is available here.

The report focusses on the provisions in Chapter 3 (“Fair remuneration in exploitation contracts of authors and performers”) of the directive, which oblige Member States to guarantee artists effective rights: to receive appropriate and proportionate remuneration, to receive transparent information on all exploitations of their recordings, to claim additional remuneration and recover rights from record labels in certain situations, and to request alternative dispute resolution.

It came as no surprise to AEPO-ARTIS that the DSM directive has had almost no positive impact on EU performers:

Appropriate and proportionate remuneration: only 5.1% of signed artists considered their streaming revenue to be satisfactory.
Transparency: 77.6% of musicians still do not receive the transparent information from labels that they are legally entitled to receive, despite article 19 obliging record labels to produce this information proactively.

Contract adjustment: only 35 out of 4.215 signed artists managed to adjust their contractual terms and receive additional remuneration.
Rights revocation: less than 2% of artists benefitted from the provisions on rights recovery, contained in article 22.
Alternative dispute resolution: The possibility of alternative dispute resolution (designed to avoid costly litigation and minimise hostility between those in dispute) has barely been used and when it was, a majority of artists (60%) did not find it helpful.

The author reaches the conclusion that: “This report has primarily demonstrated that, although Articles 18-22 were designed and implemented in national legislation to strengthen the position of artists and musicians in the market, gaps in the effectiveness of the legislation still remain. Consequently, this report suggests that additional measures are required by the EU, its Member States, and the music industry.”

Unlike their approach to article 17, the European Commission has failed to give any official guidance on how to implement chapter three. It appears that they have been relying on the belief that a literal transposition of Chapter three would address the problem identified by the directive, i.e. the weak position of performers (and authors) and that the goal of fair remuneration would be achieved. Moreover, by starting an infringement procedure against more than 20 Member States, they have pushed many towards a literal transposition.

Overwhelming evidence now shows that this believe is naïve and it would be a dereliction of duty for the Commission to continue to rely on it. They now have a responsibility towards performers to intervene in a meaningful way.

But Members States are not let of scot-free either.

Now that the French government has evidence that the satisfaction of French artists with streaming revenue (2.94%) is lower than the EU average (5.1%), are they willing to wait for the Commission to take action? Is the Irish government willing to ignore the fact that not a single Irish artist expressed satisfaction with their streaming revenue? Does the Portuguese government consider it relevant that more than 1.000 of their artists felt strongly enough to freely give their time to complete a survey? When 95.44% of their artists consider the way streaming revenue is shared to be unfair, does the Portuguese government believe it is acceptable to remain inactive?

The author of the report describes one specific situation in which the intervention of the Commission is “imperative”. With regard to session musicians, who receive no remuneration for streaming, he stated that:

“As session musicians do not possess a remuneration right for streaming, it is imperative to provide EU-level recommendations on whether Member States should introduce such a remuneration right.”

For too long, artists have endured stakeholder dialogues, consultations and ultimately a lack of willingness on the part of the Commission to take decisive action. The question of a remuneration right for session musicians could hardly be more straightforward. The Commission is fully aware that session musicians receive no remuneration at all from streaming. They are fully aware that there is no legal impediment to such a right. They are now aware that five years after the adoption of the DSM Directive 87.6% of artists consider the way streaming revenue is shared is not fair. It is now purely a matter of political will.

When mechanisms that rely on the responsibility of the industry to achieve a policy goal fail, focus needs to be put on mechanisms that allow policy makers to take responsibility. And those can be found in article 18 of the directive. It is well known that several Member States have introduced additional remuneration mechanisms that have an effect that goes beyond the contracts that performers sign and benefit the artistic community as a whole.

It is clear that an effective implementation of article 18 is essential if performers are to see meaningful change. A report fed by the voices of 9.542 performers makes this an irrefutable fact. It is up to the Commission now to take this fact serious and push its Members States towards an effective implementation. It is up to the Member States to not wait for that push to become shove.

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AEPO-ARTIS welcomes the Slovenian draft on the implementation of the Copyright Directive but warns for the introduction of a new discrimination!

admin — Fri, 23 Sep 2022 11:32:47 +0000

Earlier this week, the Committee on Economic Affairs of the Slovenian Parliament approved the draft law implementing the CDSM directive 2019/790, bringing the total amount of countries that have completed the implementation almost to 17.

AEPO-ARTIS is delighted to see that Slovenia is joining the growing list of progressive European countries such as Spain, Belgium, Italy that have granted performers a right to equitable remuneration for streaming. The Slovenian draft introduces such a right to Slovenian actors.

However, it is equally important that Slovenian musicians are also granted this right.

At the moment, when a record is played on the radio, all musicians that contributed to this recording get paid equitable remuneration. However, when the same song gets played on a streaming platform like Spotify, no equitable remuneration is payable. Why this difference, one might think? For the listener, the legal technicalities of listening to a song on the radio or on Spotify are irrelevant. They want to enjoy the music and hope that the performers get paid fairly. For that reason, it is important and logical that a right to equitable remuneration is paid for songs played on Spotify, not only for songs played on the radio.

This is especially the case since it is the stated aim of platforms such as Spotify to replace the radio. The popularity of these platforms is continuing to rise, but there is no guaranteed payment obligation to pay all musicians.

However, when a song is played on Spotify it is legally classified as an act of “making available” and unfortunately, there is currently no European legal obligation to pay equitable remuneration for such making available. Nevertheless, several EU member states have corrected this anomaly and introduced an equitable remuneration right in their national legislation. The proposal that was approved earlier this week by the Committee on the Economy recognizes this when it comes to performers in the audiovisual sector. It introduces a remuneration right when their work is streamed on platforms like Netflix or HBO. It is incomprehensible that it does not introduce the same for music performances.

Especially when music performers are demanding an equal treatment. Just last week a study published by the International Artists Organisation (available here) was published showing that 87.5% of musicians were dissatisfied with the remuneration they were receiving for streaming. Only 8.5% of musicians were against the introduction of equitable remuneration to solve this problem.

Next week the plenary of the Slovenian Parliament will decide on this draft. AEPO-ARTIS hopes that the Slovenian Members of Parliament will realize in time that the introduction of a new discrimination is no longer of this time. We fully support the introduction of the Parliaments proposed streaming remuneration right, but would like to see it applicable to all categories of performers.

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AEPO-ARTIS Seminar “Performers’ Rights in Europe: Challenges and Opportunities” – Press Release

admin — Thu, 08 Jun 2017 13:24:00 +0000

On 6 June 2017, AEPO-ARTIS, held its annual seminar entitled “Performers’ Rights in Europe: Challenges and Opportunities” at the THON EU Hotel in Brussels.

The AEPO-ARTIS seminar, amongst other issues, took stock of the European Commission’s copyright proposal, which is now being discussed in the European Parliament, raising the challenges and opportunities faced by performers across Europe.

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

Xavier Blanc, Secretary General of AEPO-ARTIS, partner of the FAIR INTERNET campaign, which represents over 500,000 performers across Europe, said: “we are disappointed that despite the information readily available, the European Commission has failed to improve the situation of performers. 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”.

Horace Trubridge, General Secretary elect of the Musicians Union, UK and musician himself said: “I am dismayed at the proposals of the European Commission. I know the terms of my contract. More transparency does not mean I can change its terms. Neither do I seek conflict with my producer if I wish to continue working in the industry. I simply would like to receive my fair share”.

On demand Internet streaming and download services, such as Spotify, iTunes and Netflix are growing exponentially in popularity, revenue and value, but performers are missing out of their fair share in this value uplift.

AEPO-ARTIS is very pleased that the concern of over 500.000 performers in Europe has finally been heard by the European Parliament and is being debated in several committees.

Helga Trüpel, German member of the European Parliament, said “My aim in the discussions on the Copyright Directive is to put authors and performers in a better negotiation position and to provide them with a statutory guarantee for an unwaivable remuneration from streaming and downloading of their works”.

“We are fully supportive of Mrs Trüpel and other 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.

AEPO-ARTIS is a partner of the FAIR INTERNET coalition which is calling for the introduction in EU law of an unwaivable right to remuneration for performances from the on demand use of their performances, subject to mandatory collective management and paid by the on demand platforms. More information is available at www.fair-internet.eu.

The seminar brought together performers and representatives of performers’ organisations, intergovernmental organisations for cultural and creative sectors, the European Commission and European Parliament, international institutions, government departments and other experts in intellectual property rights.

The press release in full is available below.

⇒ AEPO ARTIS SEMINAR 6 JUNE 2017 PRESS RELEASE

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