performers – AEPO-ARTIS

AEPO-ARTIS Joins EUIPO Observatory

admin — Mon, 22 Sep 2025 09:00:08 +0000

We are pleased to announce that AEPO-ARTIS has officially become a stakeholder of the European Union Intellectual Property Office’s (EUIPO) Observatory on Infringements of Intellectual Property Rights.

In response to our application, the EUIPO welcomed AEPO-ARTIS as a valuable new partner, recognizing our commitment to supporting the protection and promotion of intellectual property rights across Europe. The Observatory plays a crucial role in bringing together public authorities, private stakeholders, and civil society to strengthen understanding and enforcement of IP rights.

Through this collaboration, AEPO-ARTIS will contribute to joint initiatives that highlight the importance of intellectual property and protect the rights of performers and collective management organisations we represent.

We look forward to working with the EUIPO and other stakeholders to advance shared goals and ensure a stronger framework for IP protection in Europe.

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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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AEPO-ARTIS writes an open letter to the Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán

admin — Wed, 03 Jul 2024 15:59:56 +0000

With Hungary officially taking over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, AEPO-ARTIS has sent a letter to the Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán. Read the full letter below:

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AEPO-ARTIS attends WIPO 45th SCCR

AEPO-ARTIS — Thu, 25 Apr 2024 05:17:17 +0000

From 15th to 19th April, Geneva was the setting for WIPO’s 45th Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights. AEPO-ARTIS was present with a small delegation, spoke with multiple country delegates, met with the African group, the GRULAC and the European Union and had its hand in two events that aimed at putting performers and their right to remuneration back on WIPO’s radar.

On 17 April, in conjunction with FILAIE, FIM and SCAPR, AEPO-ARTIS co-organised “Music Streaming – How to Fix an Unfair Business Model”. The panel presented a number of problems with the music streaming industry together with a proposed solution based on the AEPO-ARTIS recommendation to introduce a right to equitable remuneration, subject to collective management.

Two musicians – Julie Freundt (a featured artist from Peru) and Jepa Lambert (a non-featured artist from Finland) explained the difficulties they face pursuing their chosen career, highlighting the low levels of remuneration despite being successful in their respective areas.

The discussions focussed on the remuneration of actors and in particular the practices that exist in Belgium, Slovenia and Ecuador, all of which have in place a statutory remuneration right applicable to audiovisual streaming. The participants were extremely well-informed and clearly explained the benefits of collective management, not just to performers, but also to certain producers.

On 18 April AEPO-ARTIS hosted a second panel to discuss the fair remuneration of actors in the digital environment. The panel, moderated by Ioan Kaes, featured the Belgian actor Gilles De Schryver, the Slovenian actress Nika Rozman and Federico Duret, Executive Director of UNIARTE, the Ecuadorian collective management organisation for actors.

The threat of AI to the actors’ community was also addressed. A recorded message from the French dubbing artist Marjorie Frantz highlighted that the voices of deceased actors can even be used, without the family’s consent, thus illustrating that the threats of AI are not only economic, but are personal too.

The efforts have paid off. The proposal introduced by Ivory Coast in November 2023, requesting WIPO to conduct a study on the remuneration of authors in the audiovisual sector, received full support from all countries. But, more importantly, our request to extend this study to include the remuneration of performers was accepted unanimously as well.

Less progress can be reported for what concerns the GRULAC proposal to make the topic of ‘Copyright in the digital environment’ an official standing item on the agenda. While GRULAC had prepared – upon the request of several delegations – a detailed workplan, many continued to hide behind the same old argument: “too little time”. The US, on the other hand, remain completely opposed to any further discussion of the topic. They believe that performers hold all necessary rights as a consequence of the WPPT and that any discussion about fair remuneration is a discussion between two contracting parties.

The lack of time was apparently not an argument against AI. On Thursday, most of the agenda was occupied by a long information session on the Opportunities and Challenges Raised by Generative AI. Despite interesting interventions, this session raised little that had not already been covered in other WIPO meetings. Nonetheless, a large majority of delegations supported the proposal to provide a follow-up session during the next SCCR.

On Friday multiple organisations denounced the lack of progress and will to work on a framework that makes the WIPO treaties workable for digital exploitation. AEPO-ARTIS pronounced its full support for the GRULAC proposal stating that: “Signing and ratifying treaties does not make fair remuneration for performers in the digital environment a fait accompli.

You can read the full statement via this link.

At the closing of the Committee, it was decided that the GRULAC proposal will be discussed further at SCCR/46 which will take place in 2025. AEPO-ARTIS will continue to convince WIPO and its member states to see it as their responsibility to make sure that the WPPT and the Beijing Treaty have the effect for which they were drafted, the remuneration of our performers.

To be continued.

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Report on “Cultural diversity and the conditions for authors in the European music streaming market” adopted

AEPO-ARTIS — Mon, 22 Jan 2024 13:49:28 +0000

On 17 January, the European Parliament plenary adopted the report of MEP Ibán García del Blanco on “Cultural diversity and the conditions for authors in the European music streaming market”.

While the title of the report refers only to authors, it is to be welcomed that, during the amendment stage of the legislative procedure, the European Parliament made the decision to refer throughout the text to both authors and performers.

The content of the report points out where the streaming market has gone very badly wrong. Key elements that it contains include comments such as:

“Never before has music’s financial ‘pie’ been so large. This situation is in itself paradoxical, however: never before has the situation of creators and performers been so insecure.”

“…the current imbalance in revenue allocation in the music streaming market disfavours both authors and performers and puts the sustainability of their professional careers in the digital market at risk; welcomes any efforts towards fairer remuneration for authors and performers, in recognition of the importance of their role in the European music sector.”

While the report exposes the right irregularities, the question remains what the impact of the report will be. It states that: “It is vital to carry out a thorough analysis of the music sector’s value chain in order to identify the imbalances and put in place corrective measures through legal tools and/or codes of good practice.”

However, with the CDSM Directive having been introduced relatively recently, it is extremely unlikely that there will be another legislative initiative any time soon that would introduce the necessary “legal tools” referred to in the report. “Codes of good practice” could be introduced more quickly but would still involve lengthy negotiation, perhaps with limited success.

Nonetheless, the signal sent towards the Commission cannot be denied. The Commission is legally obliged to carry out a monitoring procedure to ensure an effective implementation of the CDSM Directive. It will have to take into account the problems highlighted in the report and ensure that national implementation of the directive addresses these wherever possible.

In particular, the Commission should note that the report: “Calls on the Commission to assess the impact of existing contractual practices in the European music streaming market, as well as of the current revenue distribution model for music streaming services, on cultural diversity and the principle of appropriate and proportionate remuneration for authors and performers, and calls on it to explore, in cooperation with the relevant stakeholders, appropriate measures, including alternative and fairer models to reallocate streaming revenues;…”

For performers, this extremely supportive report is a step in the right direction, but the destination remains far away. Much remains in the hands of the Commission and their willingness to dedicate resources to support creators and implement the recommendations in the report.

AEPO-ARTIS will maintain pressure on the Commission to ensure that the excellent work carried out by Ibán García del Blanco and his colleagues will not have been in vain.

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AEPO-ARTIS writes an open letter to the Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo

AEPO-ARTIS — Fri, 12 Jan 2024 13:15:09 +0000

With start of the Belgian Presidency of the Council of the European Union, AEPO-ARTIS has addressed an open letter to the Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo with the aim of emphasizing the importance of culture and promoting the improvement of performers’ rights, in accordance with the priorities during this presidency involving cultural and creative sectors.

Dear Prime Minister of Belgium,

Dear Mr. De Croo,

Last week Belgium officially took over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union. And so, for the next six months you will be leading the rest of the European Union in taking the most important decisions that need to be taken.

AEPO-ARTIS and the large community of performers we represent would like to thank you for giving culture, and the artist in particular, an important place in the objectives of your Presidency.

AEPO-ARTIS is a non-profit making organisation that represents 39 European performers’ collective management organisations from 29 different countries, including the Belgian organisation PlayRight. The number of performers, from the audio and audiovisual sector, represented by our members is estimated at more than 650.000.

When we look at the programme for the upcoming Presidency, we are pleased to read that the Belgian Presidency will “stimulate the digital transformation of the cultural and creative sectors” and “shed a light on the working conditions of artists and creative professionals”. It is important that the Council joins the call from the Parliament in its November Resolution on the matter to request the Commission to include in its political priorities for 2024-2029 the improvement of working and living conditions and fair remuneration in the CCS.

In this resolution the Parliament put emphasis on the concept of fair remuneration, in particular the right to appropriate and proportionate remuneration which was granted to performers in the Copyright in the Digital Single Market Directive 2019/790.

In this respect we are delighted to read that the Belgian Presidency will “facilitate the exchange of best practices among member states regarding the implementation of the copyright directive in the Digital Single Market.”

With the law of 16 June 2022 you implemented the directive effectively, which unfortunately many others have not. We are sure that the Belgian initiative will provide a good framework for both the exchange of best practices and the monitoring assignment that the Commission must carry out under the Belgian presidency.

The sharing of such experiences is currently of great importance for the EU candidate member states. When the Belgian Presidency is “committed to support candidate countries in their efforts to join our Union”, we hope that you will ensure that these countries receive the necessary support to make our Union a safe workplace for their artists too.

Finally, we are looking forward to how Belgium will “prepare the positions of the EU and its Member States regarding various issues being discussed within the World Intellectual Property Organisation”.

A first important issue is the 2012 Beijing Treaty. Twelve years have already elapsed since this treaty was signed, with the intention of granting actors much needed and long overdue protection. Nevertheless, the EU has still not ratified the treaty. We sincerely hope that your Presidency will be the one that changes this and gives actors the support they deserve.

Furthermore, at the upcoming 45th Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights, the topic of fair remuneration in the music and audiovisual sector will also need stronger and more outspoken support from the EU. It is time that WIPO finally takes this to heart, especially now that their agenda has been expanded to include artificial intelligence.

As the Belgian Presidency will “strive to finalise any remaining work on the AI Act”, it is important to guarantee that a good balance is found between the promotion of a European artificial intelligence industry and its respect of the copyright in the works they use to train their machines. Fair remuneration for all stakeholders in the cultural and creative industries, including our performers, should be one of the main objectives of any policy in this regard.

We know it will be difficult to tick off all the goals of the very ambitious program by June 30. This is especially true with the elections that will take place in Europe and also in Belgium. We know that we can count on you to ensure that the Belgian Presidency will keep the focus on what is important, including our European culture and the protection of those who are the face of that culture, our performers.

Please know that AEPO-ARTIS will always be available to provide any assistance possible. We have members in almost every EU Member State and through this network we can facilitate the collection and dissemination of information on any matters relating to performers.

On behalf of every performer whose work you have ever appreciated. Most respectfully,

Ioan KAES

General-Secretary AEPO-ARTIS

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AEPO-ARTIS co-signs an Open Letter on A.I. from creators to policy makers

AEPO-ARTIS — Thu, 20 Jul 2023 15:23:17 +0000

As A.I. is increasingly used for all types of work, including creative ones, we need to make sure that the rights of creators, artists and performers are protected.

We co-signed an Open Letter to policy makers on artificial intelligence today in which Global Creators and Performers Demand Creative Rights in AI Proliferation.

Read the letter below:

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The dialogue must continue

AEPO-ARTIS — Wed, 31 May 2023 09:48:19 +0000

On Thursday, 25th May, at a conference ‘Four Years of the Copyright Directive’ AEPO-ARTIS gathered a broad range of stakeholders representing performers, producers, platforms and broadcasters as well as policymakers to discuss the current implications of the Copyright Directive on the lives and businesses of various players in the music and audiovisual sectors, as well as what can still be expected in the coming years.

Though it has been over four years since the EU Council and Parliament adopted Directive 2019/790 on copyright and related rights in the Digital Single Market, not all Member States have completed its transposition yet. Nonetheless, there is enough to look back at.

The conference witnessed a diverse gathering of stakeholders, including representatives from the music and audiovisual industry, policy makers, and experts from various fields, and it served as a platform for comprehensive dialogue that highlighted the potential effects of the Copyright Directive while examining cross-border compliance questions raised by platforms beyond EU jurisdiction, including offshore sports betting sites, and the opportunities and challenges the Directive still presents for performers, authors, and the cultural landscape as a whole. With engaging panel discussions, insightful presentations, and lively Q&A sessions at the end of each panel, the event shed light on the intricacies of the Directive and fostered meaningful conversations on its diverse transpositions.

MEP Axel Voss welcomed the participants with a video-message in which he looked back at the time where he as rapporteur for Parliament took part in the negotiations and stated that: ‘The protection of copyright is an ongoing duty and I wish we all keep fighting for our intellectual property’.

‘We are very happy that we’ve been able to gather representatives from not only our performers’ organisations, but also from the authors, the producers, streaming platforms, broadcasters, representatives of national governments, the European Commission and of course the European Parliament.’ said Ioan Kaes, General-Secretary of AEPO-ARTIS, Association of European Performers’ Organisation, who organised the event, adding that ‘It felt like bringing the Copyright Directive back to Brussels.’

Together with Marco Giorello, Head of the Copyright Unit at DG CNECT and Benjamin Feyen, Secretary General of the CCFG of the European Parliament, he discussed how the overall process of the Copyright Directive adoption and implementation went and what could be expected in the future, especially with the additional layer of complexity that comes with the fast development of technology, including the development of AI. And while general conclusion was that the true effects of the Directive are yet to be seen as the Member States only recently transposed it, it was acknowledged that the transposition came with a delay, resulting in infringement procedures against some of the Member States.

‘I think it is highly problematic.’ stated Benjamin Feyen, Secretary General of the Cultural Creators Friendship Group (CCFG) of the European Parliament addressing the two-year delay in implementation, ‘because this legislation brings a lot of rights to performers and authors, rights which should have been implemented but are not yet. So, for the last two years performers should have had remunerations that they didn’t have.’

The conference continued with a panel discussion on the music sector and the impact of CDSM on the European music streaming market that brought together influential voices from the industry.

Graham Davies, CEO of the Ivors Academy spoke about the situation of the performers in the UK while, when explaining the Belgian model of the transposition and inclusion of the ER right, Christophe Van Vaerenbergh, Managing Director of PlayRight stated that ‘The artists are in a much weaker economical position than the parties they are dealing with and literal transposition would not benefit these artists. It would not enhance or strengthen their position towards these different parties.’

The panelists engaged in lively debates on how the Directive affects the performers in the digital environment and, while they had different views on the topic, the common takeaway was that the dialogue between the stakeholders must continue.

‘It’s important to look at all actors within this market, and not just the relations between artists and platforms or artists and producers, to take into account the various partners and stakeholders that are part of this value chain.’ said Olivia Regnier, the Chair of Digital Music Europe. ‘Streaming services have a lot to bring in terms of enabling the market to grow, ensuring cultural diversity and providing tools to help artists grow their career. A number of things need to be solved through discussions, and in some cases, negotiations or practical solutions.’

‘I think putting all of us in the same room is very useful so that we can actually exchange, provide nuances and share further information’ she concluded.

Lodovico Benvenuti, Managing Director of IFPI Europe, presented the views of the record producers and found the conference to be ‘like a reunion of Copyright Directive veterans’, adding ‘It is very important to keep this discussion ongoing between all the actors of the creative value chain, whether this is platforms, performers, authors, producers, as we are. It’s very important because at the end of the day, we are on the same side of the fence. We want more resources, more remuneration for the creative community.’

The impact of the CDSM on the EU audiovisual streaming market was discussed in the following panel with experts Cécile Despringre (SAA), Gregor Štibernik (AIPA), Carolina Lorenzon (ACT) and Darya Gantura (Belgian Actress)exchanging their views. Although the Copyright Directive provides the same rules for the audiovisual as for the music sector, this panel focused on the difference in the practical effects. While Carolina Lorezon from the ACT focused on the challenges broadcasters face in keeping up the value of their content, Darya Gantura shared that for actors, so far, nothing has changed. The same contracts are still imposed and an increase in transparency is still missing. She looks forward to the moment when her CMO can put law into practice and provide her with a remuneration for streaming. But at the same time she said that she too would have to have the necessary patience for this, since several parties have challenged this new right to remuneration.

In a forward-looking session, the conference closed with a panel discussing the future presidency of the EU Council and its potential influence on copyright policies. Panelists Paul Laurent, Advisor for the Belgian Ministry of Economic Affairs, and Pál Tomori, Director of Hungarian CMO EJI, outlined their vision for the upcoming presidencies and their roles in advancing the effective implementation of the Copyright Directive across Member States.

Attendees expressed their enthusiasm for the conference and its impact on the industry. The conference concluded with a call to action, urging policymakers, industry representatives and artists to collaborate closely to ensure the successful implementation of the Copyright Directive across Europe.

The dialogue must go on as the Copyright Directive impacts all stakeholders and the conference was a great step towards collaborative work. Glad to see constructive discussions among the variety of stakeholders, Ioan Kaes, General-Secretary of AEPO-ARTIS said: ‘Today has proven that the debates are not closed yet. The discussions will need to continue and not only at a national level but also here in Brussels.’

Have a look how it was at the event:

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Conference: Four Years of the Copyright Directive

AEPO-ARTIS — Wed, 24 May 2023 12:08:16 +0000

On Thursday, 25th of May, AEPO-ARTIS is holding a conference “FOUR YEARS OF THE COPYRIGHT DIRECTIVE” at the Thon Hotel EU (Rue de la Loi 75, 1040 Brussels/undergrounds Maelbeek or Arts-Loi) on 25 May 2023.

It has indeed been over four years since the EU Council and Parliament adopted Directive 2019/790 on copyright and related rights in the Digital Single Market. And even if not all Member States have completed its transposition, there is enough to look back at. And that is exactly what we will do, in addition to considering what will come next in the transposition procedure.

With the participation of a very broad range of stakeholders, AEPO-ARTIS will have a first look at the new state of affairs in the audiovisual and music sector and see how the Copyright Directive has changed the lives and businesses of performers, authors, producers and broadcasters over the past four years.

You can find the full programme here.

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Streaming isn’t working for artists. What is the problem and how do we fix it?

AEPO-ARTIS — Fri, 05 May 2023 13:46:59 +0000

Although streaming is nowadays the main way of accessing music, performing artist sare not being fairly paid for their work.

On May 2nd – at the opening of the International Cultural Week in Stockholm – Swedish performers met with their European counterparts for a discussion on the problems inherent in streaming, and how to fix them.

Organised by SAMI, the Swedish Artists’ and Musicians’ Interest Organisation, and AEPO-ARTIS, the Association of European Performers’ Organisations, the panel discussion gathered over 130 music professionals and policy-makers from Sweden and across Europe, with many more joining remotely.

Dispelling a few myths, the panel started with a short explanation of how streaming works, and more specifically how it does not work for performers. It was explained that, contrary to what is often believed, platforms like Spotify do not pay musicians directly. Instead, they pay record labels who then distribute the money to featured artists only, based on the contracts between labels and artists. The inequity this creates is due to most of these contracts being unfair, leaving the musicians with a very low proportion (if any) of the revenue. In the case of non-featured artists (“session musicians”), they receive no share of streaming remuneration at all.

“The simple fact is that where there is human endeavour, and it’s making somebody else wealthy, that wealth, should at least be shared with the person who made the endeavour. And it’s kind of mind- blowing that you can create a business where that doesn’t happen… but here we are.” said Tom Gray, British musician, songwriter and founder of the #BrokenRecord campaign that aims to change current unfairness in the music industry.

But how do we change it? Anneli Axelsson, Swedish singer, musician, songwriter and President of the West Sweden’s branch of the Musicians’ Association commended the recent study “Streams & Dreams” by the Swedish academic Daniel Johansson, which supports the introduction of equitable remuneration and shows artists’ large-scale dissatisfaction with streaming.

Criticising a controversial report in Sweden which failed to recommend the introduction of an equitable remuneration right, she argued that its author had not listened to the voice of the artists, saying “It’s time to do that report again. And to do it right.” This criticism comes as no surprise, bearing in mind that numerous other studies have been published arguing in favour of the introduction of such a right.

Talking about the implementation of the Copyright Directive in Belgium, Tom Kestens, Belgian musician, songwriter and advisor to the Belgian Government, pointed out that Belgium was a country which did listen to artists. This led them to the conclusion that a right to equitable remuneration was the “best legal option for performers to be fairly remunerated for their work”.

He stated: “You have to look each other in the eye and say: ‘what do we really believe?’ At some point you have to make a choice about whether you will make a bold move. What the European Copyright Directive has done really well is to say to the whole of Europe, fair renumeration for artists is the right thing to do.”

PlayRight (the Belgian CMO for actors and musicians) will collect equitable remuneration from streaming platforms and distribute this revenue directly to performers. “The system has already proved to be very efficient. Spain has been applying it for years, leading to the overall greater satisfaction of artists” said Tom Kestens, adding that “the system is not complex to introduce”.

Addressing the consequences of not introducing a right to equitable remuneration, Tom Gray explained: “The problem is that linear broadcasting such as radio and TV is going down, but streaming is going up. We get paid from radio; we get paid from TV. Do we get paid from streaming? No, we do not. So what’s going to happen if legislators do nothing is that the situation will become profoundly worse.”

With a number of prominent Swedish politicians in attendance, including the former Minister of Culture Amanda Lind who expressed her disappointment that the Swedish inquiry into an unwaivable remuneration right did not lead to any concrete proposal, it seems that the message of the performers was heard and well received.

To quote Tom Kestens, “perfection is the enemy of progress”. It is now time for Sweden, and other EU countries, to show that they believe in artists and “make the bold move” of introducing equitable remuneration.

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