IMRO today welcomed new European Commission proposals on copyright as they briefed Irish MEPs on what the proposals will mean for the Irish music industry.

Eleanor McEvoy, chair of IMRO, and Victor Finn, CEO, spoke at an event in Brussels seeking reassurances that internet platforms for user-uploaded content that use music, do so in a manner that ensures fair return to musicians and composers for their works.

MEPs heard how services such as YouTube, SoundCloud and Facebook are not currently obliged to remunerate rightsholders for content stored and exploited on their sites. Although the volume of musical content being consumed online is higher than ever, revenue generated from this consumption is not fairly distributed to creators, IMRO say.

In the leadup to the creation of the Digital single market, the Commission has proposed to tackle this issue in a Directive on copyright.

Solutions proposed in the draft Directive include:
Recital 37 highlights the lack of licences being concluded with rightsholders and the impact this has on rightsholders’ possibilities to be fairly remunerated.
Recital 38 addresses the ‘active role’ played by the service provider and provides for an obligation to conclude licensing agreements with rightsholders, along with clarification on how the new obligations interact with Article 14 of the E-Commerce Directive.
Article 13 obliges platforms to cooperate with rightsholders and take measures such as implementing effective content recognition technologies, to ensure the functioning of agreements with rightsholders.

At the briefing, McEvoy said: “At this critical juncture in the development of a Single Digital Market, IMRO welcomes the opportunity to shine a light on the issue of ‘safe harbour’ protection and the need to address this loophole in order to create a level playing field between the platforms and rightsholders.”

Finn told MEPs that: “Access to music must be balanced with ensuring a fair return for those who create it. An environment that fosters growth for new and legitimate businesses, including these platforms, while providing legal certainty for consumers, and ensuring that this is paired with appropriate remuneration for creators, is needed.

“IMRO welcomes the Commission’s copyright proposals as a step in the right direction in clarifying the liabilities and responsibility of the platforms which are making content available and creating greater equality between parties, something which is lacking under the existing legal framework. Ensuring creators receive compensation for all uploads of their work is crucial to ensuring a sustainable basis for the music sector going forward,” Finn added.