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Multinational technology giants are making billions from music, while the creators are left with crumbs. A battle is now being fought in the EU to close the much-discussed value gap. This week they must agree on the text of the new copyright directive. A vote in the spring of 2019 could finally lead to a fairer distribution.
/ 13/02/2019 / Kristian DugstadMultinational technology giants are making billions from music, while the creators are left with crumbs. A battle is now being fought in the EU to close the much-discussed the value gap. This week they must agree on the text of the new copyright directive. A vote in spring 2019 could finally lead to a fairer distribution.
The digital age and the internet have completely changed how we listen to and consume music. We have completely different opportunities and tools today than ten or 20 years ago.
Social media and user-generated platforms have become a natural part of most people's everyday lives. But when all internet users upload and share image, video, and music content, it becomes more difficult to ensure that the creators get their share of the pie.
Copyrighted content creates enormous economic value on the internet, which should initially mean increased income for TONO's members, among others. However, due to a loophole in EU legislation, major players such as YouTube and Facebook can earn billions on unlicensed content, while claiming to be exempt from liability to the creators.
– When the EU introduced its E-Commerce Directive in 2000, an exemption from liability was created called Safe HarborCompanies that only provide infrastructure, such as internet lines, were thus not held legally responsible for users' content, says Inger Elise Mey, Department Director for Online Media at TONO.
When user-generated and social media made their breakthroughs about ten years ago, users quickly began sharing copyrighted content. The services claimed Safe Harbor-exemption, and believed that, as a technical solution, they could not be held responsible. Instead, the responsibility should lie with the users.
– The exemption was never intended for these platforms, but it was impossible to foresee this situation in the year 2000. The companies today earn billions of kroner from the traffic on their sites, much of it due to the copyrighted content that users share. This should benefit the creators.
The EU is currently working to correct these imbalances.
Negotiations on a new copyright directive for the digital sphere have been taking place in the EU since 2016. In September 2018, the EU Parliament voted in favour of a directive text that shifted legal responsibility from users to services and required them to obtain licenses from TONO and other rights holders. The draft Article 13 states that services must use systems that provide an overview of the use of music, and that services must pay rights holders.
After the vote, the directive text has moved on to internal negotiations within the EU system. In the spring, the EU Parliament will vote on the directive one last time.
– The text of Article 13 is currently under revision and amendment. This week, the EU bodies are to agree on a final text for the entire Copyright Directive under the so-called the trialogue negotiations"Hopefully, the end result will provide good protection for copyright. If so, there will be a historic vote in the European Parliament in March or April this year," says Mey.
If the vote goes in favor of copyright, the TONO companies will be able to negotiate fair terms with companies like YouTube and Facebook.
– Creators will hopefully be able to see financial results as early as 2021.
A number of organizations representing authors in Europe have created an information page about the work on Article 13. TONO is one of the partners in this work. Read more here.
The story continues below the video.
In September 2018, TONO's Inger Elise Mey and IFPI Norway's head, Marte Thorsby, were guests on the TONO podcast Lage musikk. In a conversation with host Torgny Amdam, Thorsby was able to say that vinyl sales generate far more revenue in Norway than the money coming from YouTube. This does not at all correspond to the real-life use of music.
– As it is now, only the videos that YouTube chooses to place advertising around generate revenue for the creators. If you think that pure music streaming services pay poorly, it can't even be compared to YouTube, says Inger Elise Mey at TONO.
How financially lucrative Safe Harbor-the exemption is for Google and YouTube, is pointed out in the podcast. (Based on the EU's transparency register, media outlets such as) Media outlets such as Billboard were able to report last summer that Google had so far spent 31 million euros, approximately 300 million Norwegian kroner, on lobbying against Article 13.
The whole world is now following what is happening in the EU. This spring's vote will have a major impact on the digital economy worldwide. Inger Elise Mey is TONO's representative in a legal expert group in the European TONO companies' lobby organization GESAC. She also chairs an important committee in the global umbrella organization CISAC. She is thus one of the Norwegians who are currently actively working to influence copyright work internationally.
– The copyright challenges are global. It is of course important to TONO that copyright protection is as good as possible, also outside Norway. A strong global copyright means that authors in all countries can have income from their music. It also has a direct impact on the earnings TONO members receive when their music is used in these countries.
In October 2018, Mey chaired a conference in Lisbon, hosted by CISAC. One of the panels was specifically about value gap and Article 13, with Google as one of the participants in the panel.
You can read more about CISAC's work here.
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