Brussels, 11 September 2018:
Tomorrow, MEPs will vote in plenary on the EU Directive on Copyright in the Digital Single Market. The FAIR INTERNET coalition calls on all MEPs to safeguard the meaningful provisions seeking to improve the livelihoods of performers in Chapter III.
The FAIR INTERNET coalition, representing over 500.000 musicians, singers, actors, dancers and other performing artists, calls on members of the European Parliament – when considering amendments ahead of the plenary vote on 12 September on the draft directive on Copyright in the Digital Single Market – to uphold and confirm the meaningful improvements to the benefit of performers obtained in Chapter III, articles 14-16.
These are the only provisions in the Directive that are truly addressing the fundamental imbalance in the relationship between performers and producers, with a view to barring some of the most unacceptable contractual practices carried out in our industry, among which the relentless recourse to “buy-out” contracts, that prevent performers from being fairly remunerated for the exploitation of their work. These measures are a step in the right direction, as they may contribute to promoting a fair and equitable remuneration of performers for all modes of exploitation including for on demand uses.
The FAIR INTERNET coalition also welcomes the fact that articles 14-16, as adopted by the Legal Affairs committee, remove certain limitations in the European Commission’s original proposal that may have excluded a large number of performers from the benefit of these provisions.
Failing to reach an agreement on the Copyright Directive during tomorrow’s plenary vote would mean that these important achievements would be lost and performers would lose all reasonable chances to be fairly remunerated from online streaming and downloading services such as Netflix, Spotify and iTunes.
The statement is available here: FAIR INTERNET Statement re Plenary Vote
For more information please visit www.fair-internet.eu or
contact Nicole Schulze: +32 478 250 951
