Songwriter champions in the European Parliament have called on the European Commission to ensure that US studios and streamers commissioning music in Europe adhere to EU copyright law, which basically means ending the use of “coercive buy-out practices”.
MEPs met with representatives of ECSA and GESAC earlier today to discuss the growing problem of buy-out deals, where studios and streamers demand to own and control some or all of the rights associated with any music they commission, in doing so stopping songwriters and composers from earning future royalties when their music is broadcast or streamed.
Such practices are most common in the US, but US-based producers have tried to introduce them into Europe, even though EU copyright principles and collective licensing conventions don’t really allow them.
In a statement, ECSA and GESAC say, “in today’s geopolitical context, strengthening European sovereignty and ensuring EU law applies to all market players is more important than ever”. Which means “global digital giants” must not be allowed to “circumvent European law”.
According to MEP Leire Pajín, who hosted an event for music creators in the Parliament, the Commission has already confirmed that “key principles” enshrined in European law via the 2019 Copyright Directive, including “appropriate remuneration”, should be embraced by US-based services operating in Europe.
“The EU must now move towards firm commitments to ensure fairness and to prevent circumvention of EU rules through foreign laws and jurisdictions”, Pajín goes on, adding, “the Parliament stands firmly behind creators and we now expect concrete follow-up from the Commission to effectively tackle these abusive practices”.
Conventions regarding the ownership of the rights in music commissioned for audio-visual productions vary from country to country. In the ideal world music creators would retain ownership in the music, providing a licence for any initial uses by the commissioning producer.
That means the songwriter or composer then has control over future use of the music and earns ongoing royalties whenever the audio-visual production is screened, streamed or broadcast, which come in via the collective licensing system.
However, in Anglo-American markets studios and streamers will usually want ownership of at least some of the rights in the music they commission. In theory, if a writer or composer is a member of a European collecting society, there are limits on what rights the producer can claim, but US-based producers often look for ways to control more of the rights, and make demands of creators to get said rights.
In a very competitive marketplace - made even more competitive as AI-generated music becomes an option for film and TV producers - it can be hard for individual writers and composers to push back against those demands. Which is why pan-European songwriter association ECSA, and European collecting society grouping GESAC, want EU lawmakers to provide extra protection in European copyright law.
ECSA President Helienne Lindvall says that, “with the rising dominance of a few large US-based streaming services”, practices which are common in the US but which run contrary to the European principles of “appropriate and proportionate remuneration” must not be allowed to become the norm in the EU.
“It is absolutely crucial”, she adds, that these principles are “not circumvented by big market players - we must ensure a sustainable future for composers, where they get properly credited and are able to participate financially in the success of their works”.