Collective management of copyright: major step towards adaptation to the digital era

Today, the European Parliament’s Legal Affairs Committee unanimously confirmed the agreement reached on 4 November between the European Parliament and the Council, on the Collective Management of Copyright Directive.

Marielle Gallo MEP, the EPP Group Rapporteur on the dossier, said: "The unanimous backing that this text received shows, contrary to common understanding, that all political groups recognise the fact that copyright can be easily adapted to the Internet and that copyright has an essential role to play in the digital economy."

"We have demonstrated that fair compensation for our artists and creators and the development of new online services can go together. Those services extend European citizens’ access to culture and represent an extraordinary accurate and future growth lever for our businesses. Copyright is not a burden, but rather an asset for the European economy", said the MEP.

Concretely, this text will allow platforms such as Spotify to address just four or five operators instead of twenty-eight collective right management societies in order to use the worldwide musical repertoire. "This is a tremendous step forward which will reduce costs, simplify the granting of licences and facilitating the emergence of new European actors in the digital single market", continued Gallo.

This legislative framework recognises the importance of the cultural and social role played by collective right management societies (SACEM and SACD in France, GEMA in Germany): "These societies are true promoters of cultural diversity, which are becoming essential players in the digital economy", concluded Marielle Gallo.