WIPO – AEPO-ARTIS

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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WIPO keeps the unfair remuneration of performers in the digital environment on its agenda

AEPO-ARTIS — Wed, 22 Mar 2023 11:56:00 +0000

Last week, from 13th until 17th of March, the 43rd WIPO Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights (SCCR) took place, with once more a lot of time given to the discussions on “Copyright in the digital environment”. For 8 years in a row, WIPO has been discussing the issue and in particular the lack of fair remuneration for musicians for the streaming of their music. A solution still has not been found, but positively the SCCR decided to not stop the discussions and organise an additional meeting at the end of the year.

On Wednesday, the discussions took off when national delegates gathered at a panel discussion on unfair remuneration of performers in the digital environment. In a discussion moderated by John Smith (FIM), representatives of performers elaborated on the specific difficulties performers have in achieving fair remuneration from music streaming. And that is primarily the making available right. For performers, all streaming is licensed under the making available right, a right that is almost always transferred to record labels, not enabling performers (contrary to the position of authors) to receive any remuneration through their collective management organisations (CMOs).

Agnieszka Parzuchowska-Janczarska (SCAPR) added that “It is important to share with all WIPO delegations our experience with performers’ rights for making available on demand” stating it was clear that the exclusive right doesn’t work and doesn’t play its primary role to remunerate artists fairly.

Addressing the fact that even under the existing right performers are not receiving what they are entitled to, Horace Trubridge (FIM) stated “When somebody selects a track at the time of their choosing it fits the definition of making available. However, when they have the track auto- generated and pushed at them rather than something that they’ve selected, then that’s the same as radio and should attract equitable remuneration paid via their CMO”

Ioan Kaes (AEPO-ARTIS) urged WIPO to provide a solution and use their authority to encourage countries around the world to implement regulations that would guarantee all performers – in both the music and audiovisual sector – a fair remuneration: “These last 8 years WIPO has put a lot of effort into analysing the specific situation of music in the digital environment. It has produced multiple studies and provided room for discussion. It is time they now decide on what to do with this information. It is up to WIPO to acknowledge the precarious situation performers are in and urgently make recommendations on how to guarantee their right to be remunerated.”

On Thursday, the discussions continued with an extensive information session that saw representatives from records labels, publishers, streaming platforms and social media platforms explain their views on how streaming benefits their industry.

Garrett Levin (DiMA) stated that “streaming services are paying out roughly 70% of the revenues they bring in from consumers, thereby paying out a higher percentage of the royalties than essentially any other distribution model known in the music industry”, adding that the answer is not to seek additional royalties from these services by inserting other intermediaries or inefficiencies into a system in which significant amounts of royalties are already being paid.

Reni Adadevoh (Warner Music) took a strong position in favor of a direct relationship with the Digital Service Providers (DSPs). “We license exclusive rights and we license them directly to the DSPs, not through CMOs”, thereby forgetting to mention that this privilege is only given to the 3 major labels. Independent labels license their content through Merlin, indeed a CMO.

But the voices most heard, were those of the artists present. Authors, performers and their representatives were also invited by WIPO to share their experience. And their message was clear.

Spanish musician Nacho Garcia Vega emphasized that “musicians have always embraced technology. We have always gone hand in hand with new technologies. But record companies have been trying to make us believe since the beginning that streaming is replacing the sale of music and they have been applying contracts that consider streaming to be a sale”, adding that new technologies deserve new remuneration mechanisms.

Indian artist Javed Ahktar pointed out the importance of making rights non-transferrable and stated that “It is wonderful to have long discussions and get into the nitty-gritty, but long discussions and too much analysis suits people who are the beneficiaries of injustice.”

They received the support of the Belgian minister of Economy Pierre-Yves Dermagne, who addressed the meeting with a video-message explaining the recent legislative changes that Belgium has implemented. In June 2022, Belgium adopted an ambitious law that tries to make sure that music (and audiovisual) performers receive equitable remuneration for streaming by variousplatforms through their CMO. “This remuneration right is not new. It has been widely used at international level for the past decades, particularly in cable retransmission and radio broadcasting”, ending with the words: “I hope the measures we have put in place will inspire you.”

Annie Morin (Artisti) pointed out that these kind of legislative interventions are necessary to allow performers to build a direct relationship with the streaming platforms themselves. She supported the continuation of studies, but warned that “if we do not actually implement any solutions while we are researching, it will discourage people to continue to make music.”

On Friday, the floor was finally given to the Member States to make clear their intention on how to treat this topic in the future.

The Group of Latin American and Caribbean Countries (GRULAC) opened the session with an already written out proposal that aims at inserting the topic as a separate item on the agenda and to instruct the WIPO Secretariat to make proposals, searching effective and fair solutions to secure performers’ rights in the digital environment.

They were supported in this request by the Central European and Baltic States (CEBS), the African Group and the Asia and Pacific Group, as well as a multitude of individual countries. The only two countries taking a clear position against the proposal were Japan and the United States of America. They stated that norm setting by WIPO should not intervene in market practices.

AEPO-ARTIS thanked the delegations for their support but urged them “to commit to urgently and immediately start the work on concrete recommendations on how to make the existing legal framework more effective, and in particular provide guidance on additional measures to guarantee that Article 10 of the WPPT can work as a legal basis that effectively remunerates performers when their work is used online and that allows them to have a direct relationship with platforms through their own collective management organisations”.

At the closing of the session, it was agreed to organise an additional three-day Standing Committee in 2023, where priority will be given to substantial discussion and one whole day will be devoted specifically to the item of Copyright in the digital environment.

Watch a message to WIPO from performers from all around the world:

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Yet another detailed study calls for the introduction of a right to equitable remuneration

admin — Wed, 21 Sep 2022 13:24:04 +0000

On 15 September a study commissioned by IAO entitled “Streams & Dreams – A Fair Music Economy for All” was published, recommending the introduction of a right to equitable remuneration for streaming in the music sector. It is available here.

The purpose of the study was to investigate what is needed for a fair digital music economy to exist. It took into account all parties involved in the industry but focussed on featured artists.

Data was obtained from 200 professional active musicians in several European countries, and, to contextualize how ranking systems shape income, we examined platform recommendation mechanics used in recommended sweepstakes casinos alongside a thorough review of academic research on remuneration. The study focused on the right to equitable remuneration and also addressed user-centric versus pro rata models and collective management.

A survey showed that 87.5% of respondents are unsatisfied, or very unsatisfied, with their revenues from streaming platforms. It made specific reference to the fact that the findings were in line with other studies, including a study commissioned by AEPO-ARTIS.

It identified the problem with streaming as being the need “… to fix the true unfair practices in the music industry, imbalances in power that have led to a situation where… artists still do not receive a correct remuneration”

Among its findings were:

A right to unwaivable equitable remuneration must be introduced
Only 8.5% of respondents believed an ER solution would influence their revenues negatively.
Only 21% of the artists signed to a label were satisfied with their deal.
The current situation where some countries have implemented an ER right as a part of the DSM directive, while others have not, is not sustainable.

It found that a solution based on legislation which introduces the mere principle of “fair contracts’ does not work. It referred to a Norwegian law which has such a principle and stated that: “After four years it seems that the new act has not had any direct implications on praxis.”

Instead, it recommended a solution of introducing an ER right and concluding agreements with labels: “A hybrid model with both an unwaivable equitable remuneration right (the Spain/Belgium model) and agreements between label and artist communities (the French model) on fair contract practices.”

This is yet another study that comes to the conclusion that the introduction of a right to equitable remuneration is essential to a fair streaming industry. There is now overwhelming academic support for the introduction of such a right.

See also: WIPO Study “Artists in the Digital Music Marketplace: economic and legal considerations” by Christian L. Castle, Esq. and Prof. Claudio Feijóo (available here), “The Principle Of Appropriate And Proportionate Remuneration Of Art.18 Digital Single Market Directive: Some Thoughts For Its National Implementation”, by Professor Raquel Xalabarder (available here), and the DCMS Economics of Music Streaming report (available here).

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AEPO-ARTIS becomes a member of the global community “WIPO for Creators”

admin — Thu, 20 Jan 2022 10:27:00 +0000

AEPO-ARTIS has officially become a member of “WIPO for Creators”, a global community initiated by WIPO and the Sweden based Music Rights Awareness Foundation. With the core aim to raise awareness and increase knowledge of creators’ rights and related management practices, ensuring recognition and fair reward for all creators, this public/private initiative consists of individual creators, national IPOs, rightholder organisations and private companies that make use of intellectual property.

Set out to help creators understand the complexities of creative industries and maximise the value of their work, WIPO for Creators will, among other things: produce and manage an online platform including educational videos to raise awareness and increase knowledge of creators’ rights, organise seminars and conferences; support the development and/or the promotion of IT solutions regarding creators’ rights and co-operate on specific projects and initiatives aimed at enabling more individuals and collaborations around the world to make a living on their creations.

“As an observer AEPO-ARTIS has closely collaborated with WIPO over the years and becoming member of this program was a natural next step in strengthening our relationship not only with the organisation but also other important interlocutors, working together to support creators worldwide.” says Ioan Kaes, AEPO-ARTIS’ General-Secretary. “Our members have a long history in creating awareness of creators’ rights and performers rights in particular. We are happy to be able to share that experience with a program like WIPO for Creators.”

More info on the program can be found on the program website: www.wipo.int/wipoforcreators.

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AEPO-ARTIS Seminar – Post Copyright Directive: What performers’ rights protection in the future?

admin — Tue, 10 Dec 2019 14:44:00 +0000

AEPO-ARTIS Seminar “Post Copyright Directive: What performers’ rights protection in the future?”

On 10 December 2019, the Association of European Performers’ Organisations, AEPO-ARTIS, held its annual seminar dedicated to a discussion on “Post Copyright Directive: What performers’ rights protection in the future?”

A roundtable discussion took place gaining the perspective of the EU institutions and WIPO on the subject. AEPO-ARTIS was grateful to receive contributions from Marco Giorello, Head of Copyright Unit, DG CNECT, European Commission, Dr Christian Ehler, MEP, European Parliament and Sylvie Forbin, Deputy Director General, Copyright and Creative Industries Sector, the World Intellectual Property Organisation.

The panel discussions that followed, amongst other issues, took stock of the recently adopted Directive on Copyright in the Digital Single Market and discussed what the next steps in performers’ rights protection should be now.

In this regard, the fair remuneration of performers from on-demand services (iTunes, Netflix, Spotify, …) was at the heart of the discussion from an academic perspective (in panel 1) and from the point of view of performers and collective management organisations (in panel 2).

Contributions were received from performers Jean Rogers and Boštjan Dermol (both of whom also represent performers’ organisations – BECS in the UK and IPF in Slovenia respectively) as well as Bruno Boutleux, Managing Director of the French performers’ organisation ADAMI and Éanna Casey, Chief Executive of the Irish performers’ organisation RAAP.

Amongst other things, it was noted that whilst the online audio and audiovisual markets are clearly thriving, the exclusive right for making available on demand granted to performers under the EU’s 2001 Copyright Directive has barely changed the economic situation of performers. The right is generally transferred in buy-out contracts to producers, with only a few famous performers managing to negotiate the payment of royalties. Most performers receive a one-off payment for the transfer of all their rights, for the entire term of protection, and regardless of how successful the exploitation is in the end.

AEPO-ARTIS was delighted to welcome some of Europe’s most prominent academics in an exchange on the future of the protection of performers’ rights. Professor André Lucas (University of Nantes), Adj. Professor Dr Silke von Lewinski ((Franklin Pierce Center for IP, Univ. of NH), Max Planck Institute for Innovation and Competition, Munich), Professor Raquel Xalabarder (University Oberta de Catalunya) and Professor Martin Kretschmer (Create Centre, University of Glasgow) expressed their views on a number of subjects.

Whilst enlightening research figures from Professor Martin Kretschmer show similarities with the earnings of literary authors, and in many cases the lack thereof, there was general agreement that the aim of Chapter III of the 2019 Copyright Directive is the redistribution of income to authors and performers.

Adj. Professor Dr Silke von Lewinski and Professor Raquel Xalabarder stated that the only efficient solution to guarantee remuneration to performers, notably for the implementation of article 18 in the Directive on Copyright in the Digital Single Market, would be one based on collective management.

In particular, this should be done via a model based on the Rental Directive 2006/115/EC, as also referred to by Professor André Lucas, granting performers a statutory residual remuneration right (upon the transfer of the exclusive right to the producer) which in their opinion may be extended to other rights including to the exclusive right for making available on demand.

“Such a remuneration right does not “add” or “extend” rights to performers but rather it “secures” the payment of proportionate remuneration to performers for the exploitation of their performances”, stated Professor Xalabarder.

This has been a goal of AEPO-ARTIS for many years.

For more information:
Visit www.aepo-artis.org or contact the Secretariat

Tel.: 02 280 19 34
Email: aepo-artis@aepo-artis.org

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WIPO Side Event: SCCR 34

admin — Tue, 02 May 2017 13:14:00 +0000

On 2 May 2017, FIM with the support of WIPO held a Side Event in Geneva on the occasion of the 34th WIPO Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights, in which AEPO-ARTIS particpated along with other members of the FAIR INTERNET campaign.

Entitled “Enabling fair online revenues for all Performers”, the event took the format of a panel discussion and Q&A session, followed by a live performance by The Jimi D. Band.

Taking part in the panel discussion were renowned Spanish performers Luis Cobos and Nacho García Vega as well as Xavier Blanc, General Secretary of AEPO-ARTIS and Benoît Machuel, General Secretary of FIM.

The event was an opportunity for the speakers to draw attention to the FAIR INTERNET Campaign and the claim for for an unwaivable right to receive equitable remuneration for the making available of performances on demand.

The programme is available here:

⇒ WIPO SIDE EVENT PROGRAMME, SCCR 34.

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