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News
Can you hear the music?
Second European Parliament Reading of the proposed copyright directive
An information society open to European citizens and budding young artists would be put in serious doubt if the proposed Copyright Directive fails to reflect the delicate balance of interest between rightholders and users. Many of the current amendments proposed by MEPs to the draft Copyright Directive, if adopted, would grant control of the on-line enjoyment of music and audiovisual works to a few large rightholders. The result would be devastating and would ultimately lead to the decline of a competitive and consumer friendly digital media market which brings young and talented unsigned artists from their garages to the homes of millions of EU citizens.
"The Parliament debate is no longer about appropriate copyright legislation that strikes a balance between users and rightholders, but rather the control of the European digital space with millions of European consumers on one side and a few large record labels on the other", says Lucy C. Cronin, Executive Director of the European Digital Media Association (EDiMA (1) ).
For the thousands of new European artists without record or publishing contracts, the control of online promotion and distribution of audiovisual works by a few large rightholders would stifle their contribution to Europe's thriving music culture. The new media industries have made an impressive contribution to this thriving culture in recent years by allowing the consumer the opportunity to hear the music of unsigned artists who, surely, are as important to European music culture as signed artists. "I cannot understand the claim made over and over again by record labels that they are the sole protectors of artists in the EU. EDiMA members, who digitally promote and distribute music on the Internet (a means of distribution expected to reach 4% of total on-line music sales in the EU by 2003) host thousands of unsigned artists - this is what I would call real support", states Mrs. Cronin.
"We applaud the efforts of Mr. Enrico Boselli, MEP, in trying to keep the delicate balance achieved in the Council. If this were to all come undone, there is great risk of an 'Information Society for all' becoming an 'Information Society for none'", says EDiMA President, Njara Zafimehy (Fnac Direct). The digital media market is being starved of content by the rightholders and what could in fact be a flourishing innovative market for Europe is in decline. Companies have been laying off incredible percentages of their workforces and companies are going bankrupt, simply because they cannot meet the demand for content by consumers. The lack of content from rightsholders is killing a great opportunity for the EU to lead in the worldwide digital media industry.
(1) The European Digital Media Association is the first alliance of digital media and technology companies in Europe, representing the interests of new media entrepreneurs in policymaking, standards developments and industry co-operative activities. EDiMA's mission is to contribute to the creation of a healthy business and legal environment in Europe that encourages new media companies to deploy innovative technologies that support public policies and industry practices for the purpose of marketing, promoting, selling and protecting digital copyrighted content. It is as a result of this mission that EDiMA is particularly interested in the collective management of rights in the Internal Market, management which does not, in the experience of EDiMA and its members, reflect the new business models of the on-line world.
"The argument that record companies will go broke if they don't have control of the Internet is a total mystery to me as I sit and watch digital media companies going bankrupt everyday because they cannot obtain content or licences which would allow them to answer consumer demand", says Mr. Zafimehy.
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