On 31st January 2017, at the invitation of MEP Helga Trüpel, AEPO-ARTIS participated in a workshop at the European Parliament on online platforms and the value gap.

The workshop focused on the responsibility of online platform operators with regard to the remuneration of authors and performers. It considered questions such as “Who benefits from the use of platforms?” and “How can the ‘value gap’ be closed or at the very least reduced?”

The AEPO-ARTIS intervention was focused on explaining why the provisions in the draft directive on copyright relating to the value gap would not benefit performers in practice and advocated instead the implementation of the proposal of the FAIR INTERNET Campaign for an unwaivable right to receive equitable remuneration for the making available of performances on demand.

Other participants at the workshop included Amit Datta, a German academic from Humboldt University, Berlin, Michael Duderstädt, from GEMA, Isabelle Buscke, from the Federation of German Consumer Organisations and Maud Sacquet from CCIA, the Computer and Communications Industry Association.

On 11 January 2017, the FAIR INTERNET Coalition released a press statement calling on MEPs to make the necessary amendments to the draft Directive on Copyright in the Digital Single Market in order to rebalance copyright and guarantee a fair remuneration from streaming and download services.

“Regretfully the European Commission has failed to adjust EU Copyright legislation and adapt it to the digital environment. How the draft Directive is being sold by the European Commission does not correspond to what it will likely achieve in reality. It does not mean performers will be paid fairly nor will they be better placed to get a fair share of the value generated from online uses.

At the end of the day, whilst legal on demand Internet streaming and download services, such as, iTunes, Spotify and Netflix are ever growing in popularity and value, the vast majority of performers still remain empty handed.”

The full statement is available for download below.

⇒ FAIR INTERNET COALITION STATEMENT TO EP EXCHANGE ON PROPOSED DIRECTIVE ON COPYRIGHT 11 JANUARY 2017.