Asia-Pacific Committee Meeting Concludes Eventful Week in China for Creators

CISAC’s Asia-Pacific Committee (APC) was the “finale” amongst a series of events promoting the interest of creators held during the week of 28 November 2016 in Beijing.  48 representatives from 18 authors’ societies gathered together in Beijing to discuss important business issues in the Asia-Pacific region. CISAC APC Chairman and APRA International Director Scot Morris opened the meeting with a warm welcome to participants.  Regional Director for Asia-Pacific Benjamin Ng led discussions of regional issues including broadcasting, satellite and cable licensing, cinema licensing, karaoke licensing, regional cooperation on online music licensing, multiple CMOs arrangements and the value ratio/split between authors’ and neighbouring rights societies.  CISAC APC Vice-Chairman and JASRAC General Affairs Bureau Senior Administrator Satoshi Watanabe reported about the successful launch of Asia-Pacific Music Creators Alliance (APMA).

CISAC Director General Gadi Oron opened the second day by giving a presentation on CISAC’s Key tasks and priorities.  CISAC Director of Business Standards and Rules Sylvain Piat provided an update to the Asia-Pacific Committee on the progress of governance and membership reforms. APC members delivered individual updates on Asia-Pacific countries and territories.

New Chairman and Vice Chairpersons of APC were elected.  Satoshi Watanabe from JASRAC received unanimous votes from members of APC to be elected as the new Chairman of APC for a term of 3 years.  Scot Morris (APRA) and Miew Lan Chen (MACP) were elected as the Vice-Chairpersons of APC. 

Following the APC session, a meeting was held between CISAC APC members and representatives of music publishers in the Asian region. The meeting, organized jointly by CISAC and ICMP, was aimed at strengthening the cooperation between publishers and CMOs in Asia-Pacific.