Film and TV composers are being pressured to sell their copyrights. A new international campaign will create buzz about the problem.
/ 26/03/2021 / Kristian DugstadMore and more film and television composers are finding that production companies want to buy them out of their own copyright.
The trend is a threat to the principles behind collective management, which has been the main method for rights holders to fight for fair remuneration for composers and songwriters over the past 100 years.
CISAC, the global umbrella organization for artists' collective management societies, is now focusing on the issue through a new campaign.
Music creators are experiencing increasing pressure from international media companies to sell the rights to their own works. Through buy-out agreements, they secure all income associated with the production. Music creators receive a lump sum, and lose their rightful share of future value creation.
– Composers who have signed a buy-out agreement are not allowed to join the journey if the production is a success. Think of all the exploitation opportunities there are for such music: Broadcasting, streaming, radio, CD, theater, advertising, toys and birthday cards. None of this income benefits the music creator, says Inger Elise Mey.
The director of TONO's Online Media department is passionate about the topic. She has worked actively on international conditions for authors for many years, including through key positions in CISAC and the corresponding European lobby organization GESAC.
During Bylarm 2020, the Online Media department at TONO organized a lecture, the topic of which was precisely the increasing pressure on film and TV composers. A pressure that unfortunately has not diminished.
– Although signing a buy-out agreement is voluntary, music creators have little leverage in negotiations with large international media companies. If they refuse, the company will likely pass on to someone else who is willing to accept the terms of the agreement. The composer also risks being 'blacklisted'.
Through the Your Music Your Future campaign, CISAC, the international umbrella organization for copyright societies like TONO, will raise awareness about problematic buy-out agreements.
– Such agreements have long been common in the US, but it is only with video-on-demand streaming services that the trend has become common in Europe. CISAC's work with the information site YMYF is a reaction to the fact that the problem has spread – But there is no solution, says Mey.
As streaming services and production companies enter into international agreements with composers, they often rely on American or other international legislation. This means that it is useless for authors to have legal protection against buy-out agreements in Europe.
Very often, buy-out agreements conflict with composers' existing management contracts. However, there is not much that TONO can do with contracts entered into directly between composers and private companies.
– The most important thing we can do now is to raise awareness among our members. A composer must know what they are saying when they sign such an agreement, says Mey.
The story was edited on April 26. Two incorrectly named companies have been removed from the text.
