CISAC President in Billboard: fix the “black hole” or risk losing the next Kubrick, Coldplay and Picasso

CISAC President Jean-Michel Jarre has used an interview in Billboard to issue a powerful call to action for governments worldwide to address the “black hole” of the transfer of value.

 ‘‘If we don't create a decent business model for the 21st century, for all these sectors of society, we may not have the next Stanley Kubrick, the next Coldplay, or the next Picasso,’’ he says in the article published in Billboard.com on June 19th. Jarre calls for rules that reflect the importance of creative content. “Let's remember, in a smart phone, the smart part is us: the creators. If you take away cultural content, it just becomes a regular $50 device. So we know the value of content is beyond any kind of discussion.’’

In a call to action on the transfer of value, Jarre says the creative sector is generating more money than the car and fashion industry in many countries, while the creators and authors have never got so little. ‘‘It's more money for these companies and just a tiny, tiny percentage for everybody else. It's as if we're in a medieval dark digital age, where you have the king getting all the money and all the rest of the population starving.’’ 

Jarre says proposals from the European Commission are a good first step towards addressing the transfer of value, and calls on the European Parliament to support them. ‘‘The position of the European Union will be seen by the entire world. And if it's wrong, it will have a domino effect. We cannot let Europe make a big mistake. We cannot let this kind of black hole exist in our economy”.

The CISAC President spoke to Billboard in a live interview on the sidelines of the joint CISAC and UNESCO conference at UNESCO’s Paris headquarters on June 12th. The Billboard article is available here