CIAM Congress Focuses on Fair Trade Music, Building a United Front for Creators
On 14-15 October, over 60 members of the International Council of Creators of Music (CIAM) met in Siena, Italy during the organisation's annual Congress to discuss the latest developments in music affecting creators.
Updates on copyright/authors’ rights and collective management reform in Europe were presented by ECSA Secretary General Patrick Ager and SABAM CEO & GESAC President Christophe Depreter. SACEM Director General Jean-Noël Tronc explained the need for the whole creative community to join forces and identify common goals. Keynotes were followed by a roundtable including SIAE President Filippo Sugar. Speakers agreed on the need to remain vigilant as the full extent of the changes engineered by the European Commission have yet to be unveiled, and "safe harbor" rules remain a critical issue.
The Italian Copyright Committee President, Professor Paolo Marzano addressed the congress on behalf of Italian Culture Minister Paolo Franceschini. He explained the Italian anti-piracy policy, based on a parallel "persuasion" approach to small users and strict law enforcement measures geared toward big piracy players.
CIAM members welcomed the recent progresses of CIS-Next and were also informed about new metadata tools such as Auddly (Sweden) and TGiT (Canada).
University of Amsterdam Professor Lucie Guibault presented a study commissioned by the EUC on remuneration of creators and performers. IP consultant Amanda Harcourt explained the complexities of the relationship between creators and performers in different fields of the digital market.
The congress was the occasion to inform CIAM members on the Fair Trade Music initiative, started at CIAM's Annual Congress in 2013 in Costa Rica. Music Creators North America (MCNA) Co-Chair Eddie Schwartz informed members about the creation of a FTMI certification body, currently underway. The new body would ensure that digital platforms that comply with the Fair Trade Music objectives receive appropriate labeling.
During the two-day meeting, CIAM members welcomed representatives from performing artists organisations, International Artist Organisation President and UK Featured Artists Coalition (FAC) CEO Paul Pacifico and France's Guilde des Artistes de la Musique (GAM) Executive Director Suzanne Combo, to discuss common goals between authors/composers and performers.
Italian composer Lorenzo Ferrero was unanimously re-elected CIAM President for a two-year mandate. He has held this position previously in 2011 and 2013.
CIAM Executive Committee was also up for renewal. New elected members are Alejandro Guarello (SCD - Chile) and Shunichi Tokura (JASRAC - Japan) who join Susi Hyldgaard (KODA - Denmark), Simon Darlow (PRS for Music - UK), Jean Marie Moreau (SACEM - France), Jörg Evers (GEMA - Germany) and Stan Meissner (SOCAN - Canada) all re-elected. In addition, Antun Tomislav Saban (HDS - Croatia) will serve for a one-year term and will be replaced after a year by Marek Hojda (ZAIKS - Poland).
Partner Alliances appointed Juca Novaes (Brazil) for ALCAM (Latin America), while ECSA (Europe) confirmed Alfons Karabuda, MCNA (US and Canada) Eddie Schwartz and PACSA (Africa) Sam MBende.