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EU creative collection agencies want YouTube et al to pay their wages

But no pan-Europe licensing or the Americans will take over

Collecting agencies for audio-visual creators on Monday urged the European Commission to protect their income in the planned new copyright law and to make online platforms (among others) pay for it.

The Society of Audiovisual Authors (SAA), the association of European collective management organisations, called on digi Commissioner Gunther H-dot Oettinger to create a “collectively enforced unwaivable right to remuneration” for audio-visual authors and said that “all platforms who distribute works should contribute to this remuneration”. That means you, YouTube.

According to the SAA, audio-visual authors do not get any payment for online or on-demand consumption of their work in many European countries. Under its proposals, authors would be banned from accepting a one-time fee in contracts with producers and would instead gain every time their film is viewed.

The SAA has 25 members in 18 countries who manage rights for more than 120,000 authors. In 2013 they collected €452 million for their authors – just 0.37% of film and TV’s €122 billion collective revenue.

Collecting agencies, who also represent their own interests, keep track of licences and collect revenue on behalf of authors. The SAA says that this job is becoming more difficult: “The multitude of possible exploitation methods of audio-visual works also requires new licensing systems. The use of work identifiers such as ISAN need to become more widespread.”

The controversial issue of “territoriality”, where licences in Europe are granted on a country-by-country basis rather than across the whole EU, was also addressed. The SAA says it is adamant that it is “not an impediment to the circulation of works”.

On the contrary, the SAA believes it protects the financing of diverse European production and without it the big, bad American giants will take over. “The current market is far from perfect, as US films and TV programmes continue to dominate in many countries,” says the organisation’s position paper.

This appeal may well fall on deaf ears, as the Commission vice president in charge of all things digital – Andrus Ansip – has been vocal in his opposition to geo-blocking: “I pay my taxes in Estonia, so why, when in Brussels, can’t I watch content I bought legally? As a [licence] payer I should be able to watch the football, but I find it’s blocked, blocked, blocked!”

“I don’t want to steal, but being realistic, everyone knows that I don’t need to pay. There are technological ways to watch without paying and then creators don’t get any of my money,” he said in December.

A statement from the authors themselves said that they were against the “divisive discourse opposing the public, our audience, to creators”. “Our greatest desire is that our works are watched by as many people as possible, find their audience and flow across borders, including online. Often, the supposed barriers have nothing to do with authors’ rights, but everything to do with business practices.”

This distinction between “big business” and authors was echoed by Bertrand Tavernier, French film director of Quai D’Orsay and The Princess of Montpensier at the event in Brussels: “Directors and creators are not responsible for portability,” he said.

Roger Michell, British director of Notting Hill, said that collecting agencies, who also take their cut from authors, are essential in protecting their rights: “I have had to learn the hard way how poor contractual practices deprive authors from being linked to the success of their works. Professional organisations and CMOs like the members of SAA are essential to authors like me being able to be paid fairly for my work and to enforce my rights.” ®

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