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12th Jan 2024

MEPs to criticise 'big-bang' policy on music rights

MEPs in the European Parliament's legal affairs committee are set to adopt a report on collective cross-border management of copyright on Tuesday (27 February) saying a "big-bang" style introduction of competition into the collective management of authors' rights could damage cultural diversity in Europe.

Hungarian socialist MEP Katalin Levai wrote the report following the May 2005 European Commission recommendation on collective cross-border management of copyright and related rights for legitimate online music services.

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The report, however, has been delayed since November 2006 partly due to the heavy interest in the topic, which could see a change in the way music copyright is managed across Europe.

"It is very complicated as there are many different sides interested," said an aide in Ms Levai's office about the delay. But the report is expected to be adopted in tomorrow's committee meeting.

Creative rights

The commission recommendation called for EU member states to help create more competition in the European music sector by opening up the possibility of EU cross-border online services for the management of copyright and other related rights.

Traditionally, European songwriters' rights have been managed by national "collecting societies" that grant distribution licences for record labels and online shops and collect royalties of a few cents per download.

The societies - some of which date back to the 1850s - hold monopolies for each EU member state and cooperate with each other via reciprocal contracts that allow, say, a French society to licence Swedish music in France while channelling cash from French royalties back to Sweden.

But with the EU digital music sector set to become a €3.9 billion a year industry by 2011, the major record labels are pushing Brussels to break-open the rights monopolies system.

In her draft report Ms Levai calls on the commission to re-examine its recommendation and propose EU legislation on cross-border copyright management instead but with more restrictive changes.

"A 'big-bang' style introduction of competition in the field of collective management of authors' rights should not be pursued because of the risk of irreversible damage to cultural diversity in Europe," the report says.

She explains that if the market for collective rights management was opened without some kind of control "the market power would be concentrated in the hands of a few major rights holders."

Less profitable local and minority repertoires would then easily be scrapped, she argues.

If adopted by the legal affairs committee, the Levai report will go through a first reading in the parliament's plenary session in Strasbourg in April.

The commission has meanwhile invited all interested parties to submit their views on their initial experience of the 2005 copyright management recommendation.

Penalty for downloading music

In the meantime, a draft report proposing criminal penalties on those who infringe intellectual property rights has been postponed for a second time because centre-right and socialist MEPs cannot agree on the scope of the directive.

Some MEPs are calling for music copies made for personal use to be excluded or do not like the report as a whole, while hardliners, such as Dutch liberal MEP Toine Manders, want personal copies included.

Mr Manders called, in an amendment, for infringement penalties to include the seizure and destruction all counterfeit material and equipment used to carry out the infringement.

The draft report by Italian socialist MEP Nicola Zingaretti is set to be voted on when the parliament legal affairs committee meet again in March.

Parliament asks for binding online music law

The European Parliament has called for binding rules to regulate the EU's online music market and to protect the bloc's cultural diversity. European lawmakers meeting in Strasbourg on Tuesday have with an overwhelming majority adopted a report by Hungarian socialist MEP Katalin Levai calling for the EU executive to replace its soft law recommendation with binding legislation.

MEPs want EU law on online music

MEPs have called on the European Commission to come up with binding legislation for the online music market to ensure European cultural diversity in the music sector.

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