You may have followed the recent debate about Spotify payout rates (if not see here, here and here) following Thom Yorke’s initial criticism of the rates. After weeks of defending themselves and underlining how much it has paid out to rightholders, at the beginning of December Spotify updated their service and opened themselves up to some transparency (see articles here and here) on both statistics and royalties.  This notably included putting an approximate value on the per stream royalty rate – som

In every copyright debate in Brussels everyone always agrees that legislation needs to be fair and balanced, and that creators should be paid.

SAA has been promoting the idea of an unwaivable remuneration right for the last two years.  Performers organisations have also called for a similar right.  Our analysis, put simply, is that while it would obviously be better to strengthen the negotiating position of screenwriters and directors by introducing standard contracts or changing contract law, the reality is that this is unlikely to happen at EU level.  Antonio Vitorino recognised this issue in his recommendations on private copying levies:

A delegation of SAA members and patrons met Commissioner Barnier on 22nd February ...

Groupings of screenwriters, directors, composers, songwriters and journalists welcome adopted European Parliament report that calls for “fair and proportional” remuneration.

The European Parliament's culture committee has adopted a positive-looking report by Jean-Marie Cavada (France, EPP) on the online distribution of audiovisual works – the European Parliament’s follow-up report to the European Commission Green Paper from last year.

Robert Alberdingk Thijm, Fred Breinersdorfer, Stijn Coninx, Jan Hrebejk, Agnès Jaoui, Radu Mihaileanu, Volker Schlöndorff, Hugh Stoddart, Bertrand Tavernier, Jaco Van Dormael, Susanna White - Patrons of the Society of Audiovisual Authors - respond to Finish and Spanish ministers' comments in the European Voice.

Part of the problem with Piracy is that many fans don’t feel that they are giving anything to the creator, just to a big faceless company.  While this is obviously a simplistic view (most European producers are not that big and I doubt such fans check the size of the company before deciding whether to download legally or not) the reality in the audiovisual sector is that it is doubtful much (if any) of the money handed over will reach the authors.

For the first time, on a European level, the three main organisations representing screenwriters, directors and their collective management organisations came together to call for an end to buyout contracts.  This is big news.

Three important authors’ bodies are coming together to demand legislation for equitable rights payments for European film and television directors and screenwriters. They are calling for unwaivable enforceable rights, fair contracts and stronger resistance to arguments put out by the pirate lobby.

Delegation of leading European Audiovisual Authors presents their vision for the future of the online market – one that brings their works to as many people as possible while guaranteeing authors a fair deal and securing the financing of future works.

In a case opposing the scriptwriter/director of a documentary film, Mr Luksan, and the producer of the film, Mr van der Let, the European Court of Justice has given comfort to European scriptwriters and directors, clarifying their exploitation rights and their right to fair compensation for private copying in the films they create.  The Judgement issued on 9th February 2012 was on a reference for a preliminary ruling from an Austrian court and had to deal with the Austrian copyright law dating back to 1