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SAA - Society of Audiovisual Authors

Fair remuneration for creators, says the Parliament

20 October 2021 News
© European Union 2021 - Source: EP (Photographer: Mathieu CUGNOT)

On 19 October, the European Parliament adopted a resolution on the situation of artists and the cultural recovery in the EU prepared by MEP Monica SEMEDO for the Culture committee. The SAA welcomes this important resolution that calls for minimum social standards for artists and cultural workers and shows that the EU can do more to guarantee fair and proportionate remuneration for authors.

The SEMEDO report paints a picture of the cultural and creative sectors and industries (CCSI), representing 4-7% of the EU GDP and 8.7 million jobs in the EU. Many are free-lancers or self-employed and/or working part-time. Their challenges are, among others, unstable and uncertain income, limited or no access to support and safety, and in some Member States some professionals lack any legal status. SEMEDO highlights how the COVID-19 pandemic has seriously impacted the cultural and creative sectors and industries and aggravated the need to take European wide measures to improve the situation of artists. Enabling cultural and creative workers and creators to make a living is crucial not only to retain the talents in Europe but to also foster cultural diversity. SEMEDO underlines that taking action to support CCSI in their recovery is not enough, there must be investments for the development and sustainability of the sector too, in terms of adapting to new technology, artificial intelligence, etc. 

The report includes some strong calls for action on authors’ rights and fair remuneration, which the SAA recommends the Council and Commission to pay special attention to:

  • Calls on the Member States to transpose Directive (EU) 2019/790 on copyright in the digital single market, with a strong focus on the protection of cultural and creative works and those creating them, and, in particular, to guarantee fair, appropriate and proportionate remuneration for authors and performers; calls on the Commission to closely monitor the effective implementation of these key principles (13)
  • Regrets the fact that the national transposition of Directives 2019/790 and 2019/789 is somewhat delayed, while only a few Member States have seized the opportunity provided by Article 18 to implement appropriate remuneration mechanisms; urges the Member States to translate Article 18 of Directive 2019/790 into effective remuneration mechanisms (15)
  • Calls on the Commission to promote collective rights management in the implementation of the recently adopted directives on copyright, as well as in its forthcoming initiatives to ensure the fair remuneration of creators and wide access to cultural and creative works for the public (16)
  • (…) is worried about the fact that in this new business model, many artists and creators cannot achieve the same amount of revenue as the practice by dominant or large streaming platforms of imposing buy-out clauses deprives authors of their royalties and hinders adequate and proportionate remuneration for creators; asks the Commission, therefore, to evaluate the situation and to take measures to ensure that revenues are duly and fairly distributed to all creators, artists and rights holders (22)

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