June 6, 2017

PRS for Music reports that at the Meet the Authors event on 30 May 2017, creators launched their call to the EU in the presence of high-level decision-makers from the European Parliament, Commission and the Council.

Creators asked for Europe to put an end to the funnelling of value away from creators to a number of major online platforms. Creators event, backed by their authors’ societies, argued that too often today, User Uploaded Content (UUC) platforms, which designed their successful business model around giving access to creative content, provide little or no remuneration to those who are at the very basis of that value chain: the creator.

PRS reports that the Meet the Authors gathering was attended by Vice-President Ansip, Commissioner Navracsics, MEPs from the five main political groups and from throughout Europe, and Member State Representatives from 13 countries, including four Ambassadors. On the author side, there were more than 60 who came from all over Europe, representing a wide spectrum of the arts: composers, lyricists, screenwriters, street artists, photographers, etc.

The creators’ call comes at a time when copyright reform is high on the agenda of both the European Parliament and the Council, who are working on the Commission’s proposal from September last year. Creators showed their concern about the current discussions taking place in Parliament and the Council, in which the bare minimum for a meaningful solution to the transfer of value problem that was proposed by the Commission is being questioned, instead of being strengthened further.

The creators’ message at Meet the Authors was unequivocal: unless clear and strong legislation is adopted at EU level, freeriding platforms will continue to have carte blanche to siphon off value from creative and cultural works for their own profit, depriving Europe of one of its main economic assets: the creative sector. To read PRS’s press release in full and to access the call document, click here.