CISAC Asia-Pacific Committee Meeting
On 25-27 November, 44 participants from 21 member societies, colleagues of CISAC and international guest speakers from WIPO met in Sydney, Australia for a busy three-day agenda of discussions, updates and training on the occasion of CISAC’s second 2015 Asia-Pacific Committee meeting.
Australian Performing Rights Association (APRA) Chief Executive Officer Brett Cottle opened the proceedings with a keynote speech. “The Asia-Pacific Committee Meeting is a constructive and productive platform for authors’ societies to exchange views and to learn from each other,” said Cottle. APRA Director of International and Asia-Pacific Committee Chairman Scot Morris and CISAC Regional Director Benjamin Ng welcomed the esteemed guests.
Day 1 of the meeting centred on current regional issues as well as the developments and progress made since the last AP Committee, held in May in Manila (Philippines). Broadcasting and Satellite licensing and online music licensing continue to be the major discussion topics for the region. A survey on private copying levy was conducted and APC had a good discussion on the formulation of a strategy to extend lobbying efforts in the region. The impact of the Trans-Pacific Partnership and the copyright related legislative developments in the region were also discussed. For the purpose of supporting CIAM’s initiative in setting up an alliance for music creators in Asia-Pacific, societies agreed to approach the music creator’s association and dedicated musicians and authors to join such a meaningful initiative. National reports and the report on Australian authors’ campaign for remuneration right were made by Australian societies ASDACS and AWGACS. APRA|AMCOS and Copyright Agency|Viscopy also presented their National Reports at the meeting.
Day 2 began with a presentation on the new CLEF system, delivered by APRA|AMCOS Head of Business & Systems Development Alan Balchin. This was followed by the reports made by the representatives for their respective society including MCSC of China, MÜST of Chinese Taipei, CASH of Hong Kong, WAMI of Indonesia, JASRAC of Japan, KOMCA of Korea, MACA of Macau, MACP of Malaysia, MOSCAP of Mongolia, FILSCAP of Philippines, MCT of Thailand, SACENC of New Caledonia, SOCAN of Canada and PRS for Music of the UK.
The final session on the morning of Day 2 was an important and interesting presentation by WIPO Office in Singapore Deputy Director Mr Candra Darusman, who provided an update on the work of WIPO in the field of CMOs in ASEAN and South Asia.
The afternoon of Day 2 was reserved for Asia-Pacific Committee members and included a series of workshops on governance, including reform of CISAC Membership, reform of Compliance Review, Governance Training presented by CISAC Director of Business Standards and Rules Sylvain Piat.
Closing the proceedings was the ICMP–CISAC Asia Pacific joint meeting at which music publishers and representatives of authors’ societies in Asia-Pacific exchanged views on the recent development in the AP market. The communication between ICMP and APC was strengthened and it is hoped the same meeting could be regularly organised.