From 15th to 19th April, Geneva was the setting for WIPO’s 45th Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights. AEPO-ARTIS was present with a small delegation, spoke with multiple country delegates, met with the African group, the GRULAC and the European Union and had its hand in two events that aimed at putting performers and their right to remuneration back on WIPO’s radar.
On 17 April, in conjunction with FILAIE, FIM and SCAPR, AEPO-ARTIS co-organised “Music Streaming – How to Fix an Unfair Business Model”. The panel presented a number of problems with the music streaming industry together with a proposed solution based on the AEPO-ARTIS recommendation to introduce a right to equitable remuneration, subject to collective management.
Two musicians – Julie Freundt (a featured artist from Peru) and Jepa Lambert (a non-featured artist from Finland) explained the difficulties they face pursuing their chosen career, highlighting the low levels of remuneration despite being successful in their respective areas.
The discussions focussed on the remuneration of actors and in particular the practices that exist in Belgium, Slovenia and Ecuador, all of which have in place a statutory remuneration right applicable to audiovisual streaming. The participants were extremely well-informed and clearly explained the benefits of collective management, not just to performers, but also to certain producers.
On 18 April AEPO-ARTIS hosted a second panel to discuss the fair remuneration of actors in the digital environment. The panel, moderated by Ioan Kaes, featured the Belgian actor Gilles De Schryver, the Slovenian actress Nika Rozman and Federico Duret, Executive Director of UNIARTE, the Ecuadorian collective management organisation for actors.
The discussions focussed on the remuneration of actors and in particular the practices that exist in Belgium, Slovenia and Ecuador, all of which have in place a statutory remuneration right applicable to audiovisual streaming. The participants were extremely well-informed and clearly explained the benefits of collective management, not just to performers, but also to certain producers.
The threat of AI to the actors’ community was also addressed. A recorded message from the French dubbing artist Marjorie Frantz highlighted that the voices of deceased actors can even be used, without the family’s consent, thus illustrating that the threats of AI are not only economic, but are personal too.
The efforts have paid off. The proposal introduced by Ivory Coast in November 2023, requesting WIPO to conduct a study on the remuneration of authors in the audiovisual sector, received full support from all countries. But, more importantly, our request to extend this study to include the remuneration of performers was accepted unanimously as well.
Less progress can be reported for what concerns the GRULAC proposal to make the topic of ‘Copyright in the digital environment’ an official standing item on the agenda. While GRULAC had prepared – upon the request of several delegations – a detailed workplan, many continued to hide behind the same old argument: “too little time”. The US, on the other hand, remain completely opposed to any further discussion of the topic. They believe that performers hold all necessary rights as a consequence of the WPPT and that any discussion about fair remuneration is a discussion between two contracting parties.
The lack of time was apparently not an argument against AI. On Thursday, most of the agenda was occupied by a long information session on the Opportunities and Challenges Raised by Generative AI. Despite interesting interventions, this session raised little that had not already been covered in other WIPO meetings. Nonetheless, a large majority of delegations supported the proposal to provide a follow-up session during the next SCCR.
On Friday multiple organisations denounced the lack of progress and will to work on a framework that makes the WIPO treaties workable for digital exploitation. AEPO-ARTIS pronounced its full support for the GRULAC proposal stating that: “Signing and ratifying treaties does not make fair remuneration for performers in the digital environment a fait accompli.
You can read the full statement via this link.
At the closing of the Committee, it was decided that the GRULAC proposal will be discussed further at SCCR/46 which will take place in 2025. AEPO-ARTIS will continue to convince WIPO and its member states to see it as their responsibility to make sure that the WPPT and the Beijing Treaty have the effect for which they were drafted, the remuneration of our performers.
To be continued.
