Thursday

28th Mar 2024

Illegal downloading 'due to lack of choice'

As the European Commission enters the final straits in its preparation of proposals on the collecting of royalties for artists and protecting intellectual property rights, two camps are preparing for battle: those that believe the entire system needs to be reworked to fit a digital age and those that say that the current system is not so much the problem as the lack of copyright enforcement.

The first camp argue that the massive rise in illegal downloading and filesharing is because consumers are not able to legally access that arthouse film or small band from another member state due to a lack of pan-European licensing.

Read and decide

Join EUobserver today

Get the EU news that really matters

Instant access to all articles — and 20 years of archives. 14-day free trial.

... or subscribe as a group

  • We're in a digital age but rules have failed to keep up (Photo: printing.com)

"I think we have to make sure there is more choice for consumers," says Dutch Liberal MEP Marietje Schaake in a special debate hosted on Tuesday (19 April) by EUobserver on the issue. "You could say that the amount of [illegal] downloads is a testimony to an unmet demand on the part of consumers. We have a choice now to focus on enforcement ... or reforming."

She argues that a reformed system would allow consumers access to all creative content online and the consumer would then pay according to "his or her use".

But British Conservative MEP Emma McClarkin believes it is more a matter of educating people about the effect that illicit downloading - estimated to cost the music industry millions of euros annually - has on artists' livelihoods.

"We need to focus on the fact that it is an illegal act and people need to be educated about the value of the cultural creative industries," she said during the same debate. "We need to make sure that artists and rights holders have the adequate legal tools that they need in order to enforce their rights."

The commission is currently looking at the feasibility of involving private companies - such as internet service providers - in policing online behaviour, following the lead of countries such as France and the UK.

Closely related to Brussels' plans to update intellectual property enforcement rules to fit with a digital age are plans to regulate collecting societies - the bodies that collect and distribute royalties on behalf of musicians. The proposals are due to be published in July.

Seen by critics as being too opaque and not doing enough for the artists they represent, the commission has indicated the societies need to open up more to the new technological age, to competition and to the idea of pan-European licensing.

The societies, for their part, say they are the ones guaranteeing cultural diversity as they give equal access to the market regardless of the size and language of the act and whether it is mainstream.

In addition, they say the commission's previous foray into the matter, which meant that from 2005 they had to put a stop to agreements preventing them from competing against one another, made the legal situation much more unclear.

"Over the last 6 -7 years, the situation regarding the collective cross border management of rights has been in a framework of tremendous legal uncertainty," said Victoriano Darias, legal adviser at the European Grouping of Societies of Authors and Composers (GESAC).

Darias indicated that his organisation agreed on the need for transparency and good governance and pointed out that collecting societies are working on "self-regulation".

Erkki Ormala, president of Digital Europe, noted that a study conducted by the European digital market advocacy group found that by "making digital market a reality by 2015, we would be able to increase European GDP by four percent in terms of annual revenue."

"We have to understand that the old models are not sustainable (...) and therefore we need to change the system."

"There should be a European-wide opportunity in providing access to the content. But there must be a variety of different license organisations so that there is competition and all the artists have access to an appropriate licensing organisation," he said.

The article was adjusted on 20 April after GESAC clarified that it was not opposed to further EU rules on governing collecting societies

Watch EUobserver chatshow

EUOBERVER / EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT / BRUSSELS (20 April 2011) Dutch MEP Marietje Schaake from the Liberal ALDE group and British MEP Emma Mc Clarkin from the Conservative ECR group sit around a table with the President of Digital Europe, Dr. Erkki Ormala and the Legal Advisor for Gesac, Victoriano Darias to voice their opinion on the topic.

Watch more EUobserver videos here

Opinion

EU Modernisation Fund: an open door for fossil gas in Romania

Among the largest sources of financing for energy transition of central and eastern European countries, the €60bn Modernisation Fund remains far from the public eye. And perhaps that's one reason it is often used for financing fossil gas projects.

'Swiftly dial back' interest rates, ECB told

Italian central banker Piero Cipollone in his first monetary policy speech since joining the ECB's board in November, said that the bank should be ready to "swiftly dial back our restrictive monetary policy stance."

Opinion

EU Modernisation Fund: an open door for fossil gas in Romania

Among the largest sources of financing for energy transition of central and eastern European countries, the €60bn Modernisation Fund remains far from the public eye. And perhaps that's one reason it is often used for financing fossil gas projects.

Latest News

  1. Kenyan traders react angrily to proposed EU clothes ban
  2. Lawyer suing Frontex takes aim at 'antagonistic' judges
  3. Orban's Fidesz faces low-polling jitters ahead of EU election
  4. German bank freezes account of Jewish peace group
  5. EU Modernisation Fund: an open door for fossil gas in Romania
  6. 'Swiftly dial back' interest rates, ECB told
  7. Moscow's terror attack, security and Gaza
  8. Why UK-EU defence and security deal may be difficult

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. Nordic Council of MinistersJoin the Nordic Food Systems Takeover at COP28
  2. Nordic Council of MinistersHow women and men are affected differently by climate policy
  3. Nordic Council of MinistersArtist Jessie Kleemann at Nordic pavilion during UN climate summit COP28
  4. Nordic Council of MinistersCOP28: Gathering Nordic and global experts to put food and health on the agenda
  5. Friedrich Naumann FoundationPoems of Liberty – Call for Submission “Human Rights in Inhume War”: 250€ honorary fee for selected poems
  6. World BankWorld Bank report: How to create a future where the rewards of technology benefit all levels of society?

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. Georgia Ministry of Foreign AffairsThis autumn Europalia arts festival is all about GEORGIA!
  2. UNOPSFostering health system resilience in fragile and conflict-affected countries
  3. European Citizen's InitiativeThe European Commission launches the ‘ImagineEU’ competition for secondary school students in the EU.
  4. Nordic Council of MinistersThe Nordic Region is stepping up its efforts to reduce food waste
  5. UNOPSUNOPS begins works under EU-funded project to repair schools in Ukraine
  6. Georgia Ministry of Foreign AffairsGeorgia effectively prevents sanctions evasion against Russia – confirm EU, UK, USA

Join EUobserver

EU news that matters

Join us