The EU Parliament voted today with a solid majority in favor of the introduction of the new copyright directive. “This is a historic result that TONO members have every reason to celebrate,” says TONO CEO Cato Strøm.
/ 26/03/2019 / Kristian Dugstad
With 348 votes in favor, 274 against and 36 blank votes, there was an overwhelming majority in the EU Parliament in favor of the directive text, which after three years of work was finally presented for a final vote today.
– Our opponents have spent hundreds of millions in lobbying to stop the directive, but the EU Parliament has nevertheless listened to the artists and adopted a directive text that will form the basis for a far fairer internet economy within the field of music than we have seen so far.
For creators, today's vote is a vindication, which will be of great importance in balancing the balance of power in a part of the internet economy that has not functioned until now, says Strøm.
Will have to follow ordinary copyright principles
The companies behind the large user-generated services have for many years, citing the EU's now 19-year-old e-commerce directive, claimed that they are not responsible for the content that users have uploaded and consumed on their services, despite the fact that the services have systematized, refined and adapted the content to the users. At the same time, they have had astronomical revenues from the content. The new directive shifts responsibility from users to the services. Thus, the services must enter into agreements with the rights holders' organizations and pay reasonable and fair remuneration to the authors.
– Services like Facebook, YouTube etc. will now have to deal with ordinary copyright principles as we know them from other areas of society. TONO will have a stronger position in negotiations with these types of companies, and our members will be able to get far better income from these services than we have expected so far. This is not least important because services like YouTube and Facebook are largely used as music platforms, and in reality compete with services like Spotify and Apple Music, says Strøm.
To be implemented into Norwegian legislation
After today's vote, the various European countries will individually decide how to implement the directive. This process is estimated to take from 18 to 24 months. Norway received a new copyright law in July 2018. Cato Strøm believes that the directive and the copyright law fit together seamlessly, and that the implementation of the directive into Norwegian legislation should not present any challenges:
– TONO and several other players in the music field clearly conveyed to the Norwegian authorities in their work on the new Copyright Act that it was necessary to take action to solve the "transfer of value" problem with user-generated services, and we urged that the directive's guidelines be implemented into Norwegian law quickly. They are prepared for this, and there is nothing in the directive that goes against the Copyright Act, says Strøm.