CISAC holds successful 2015 General Assembly meeting

It has been a year of change and of great achievements at CISAC.

This was the resounding message that CISAC member societies took away from today's 2015 General Assembly held in Brussels, Belgium.

With a new structure, bold strategy and renewed energy, CISAC is working in full force to support its members and four million creators it represents around the world.

See the photo gallery.

CISAC President Opening Remarks

CISAC President and electronic music composer Jean-Michel Jarre kicked-off the meeting, delivering a passionate speech on CISAC's ongoing commitment to "make a difference" amid a challenging climate of copyright reform.

The last year was an amazing ride.  We took the message of creators to WIPO in Geneva, to the UN in New York, to the European Parliament in Brussels. We took it to numerous places around the world where creator’s voices need to be heard,” he told the audience.

Jarre highlighted the many challenges that creators face today, as the intellectual property legal framework and the system of collective management of rights continues to come under attack in many countries, including in Europe, the birthplace of copyright.

Companies are building businesses, empires and fortunes, with the use of our creative output. And what do we get in return? Far too often, only crumbs from the banquet.”

He also pointed to the fundamentals of authors’ rights protection, reminding audience members that the 'Universal Declaration of Human Rights,' adopted by the United Nations’ General Assembly in 1948, states that "Everyone has the right to the protection of the moral and material interests resulting from any scientific, literary or artistic production of which he is the author."

These words were carefully crafted more than 75 years ago. I still find them completely and absolutely relevant today. The Declaration contains everything that we stand for here. It is about authors, and it talks about moral and material interests, the two values that we constantly attach to our creations. It also expresses more than anything that creators' rights are human rights.”

Jarre then outlined CISAC’s multipronged action, across all geographic regions and artistic repertoires, in the fight for fairness:

Our work has spread across all regions, all repertoires, and with the active participation of creators from all over the creative community,” he said.  

At the close of his opening statement, Jarre received a huge round of applause.

Read Jean-Michel Jarre's speech. 

Eric Baptiste's Chairman Address

Having thanked Jean-Michel Jarre for his tireless commitment in the name of CISAC, Board of Directors (BOD) Chairman Eric Baptiste presented the new dynamic of the Confederation.

He reminded the audience that, a year prior, the Board of Directors and the Secretariat had faced a daunting restructuring process.  He praised the diligent work of Director General Gadi Oron who, in just a few months, has managed to get the organisation back on track.  Other key achievements include the new approach to governance work, with a focus on helping societies achieve better operational efficiency, more advocacy work, better relationships with allied rights holder organisations, new projects designed to provide quantitative data on the economic importance of the creative community (EY-led global study on cultural and creative industries).

CISAC is back on the world scene with the support of authors," he concluded.

A minute of silence was held in memoriam of former CISAC President Jean-Loup Tournier.

Director General Gadi Oron Presentation

CISAC Director General Gadi Oron was next to speak. 

Reminding the audience that it had been a great honour for him to lead the organisation since September 2014, Mr Oron stated that “It has been a good year for CISAC”. 

He highlighted the successful re-building of the Paris Secretariat, as well as the restructuring of the entire organisation which has enabled CISAC to become leaner and more agile than ever before. 

We are back at work, in full force. Today, we have a fully staffed organisation that is totally dedicated to the ambitious strategy we have adopted. We have a committed, hard working and highly motivated team and we are surrounded by a group of creators who are fuelling even more energy into our work.  

We also now have a streamlined structure with fewer committees, but with a much improved flow of information between them."

He then turned to the impressive number of projects and initiatives that have been rolled out around the world, across all repertoires, from a new approach to governance to policy (ISP issues in Europe, campaign for the resale right, campaign for an inalienable right to remuneration for AV creators, advocacy work all around the world), technology (ISWC dissemination), communications (CISAC Highlights, Global Collections Report) and educational activities (CISAC University, MOOC project). 

Mr Oron enumerated the numerous ways in which CISAC has been reconnecting with the outside world, weighing in on all important debates that affect creators' lives.

He highlighted the recent successes that CISAC has had with the media, the on-going effort to reconnect with sister organisations, including ICMP, IFPI, BIEM, SAA, EVA, FIAPF and NorCode, to name a few, and the impressive work that has been done in building stronger relationships with creators, paying tribute to the tireless involvement of CISAC’s President, Vice Presidents, and Creators’ Councils.

Concluding his intervention, Mr Oron reminded the audience of how challenging the times are for creators, with attempts to lower the levels of copyright protection all around the world.  He reiterated CISAC’s commitment to addressing these challenges head on and to “continuing to act on behalf of the creative community to make a difference”.

Creator’s Panel: Speaking up for Fairness and Fair Remuneration

Next on the agenda was a creators’ panel discussion where creators from across the world, representing CISAC’s vibrant artistic and cultural diversity, spoke on the importance of creators’ mobilization in the battle to ensure a sustainable future for creators.  The issue of fairness in the digital economy was at the core of discussions.

Panelists included CISAC President Jean-Michel Jarre, Angèle Diabang (Director and Producer/Senegal), Montserrat Soto (Visual Artist/Spain), Lorenzo Ferrero (Composer and Chair of CIAM), and Yves Nilly (Writer and Chair of W&DW) and Hervé di Rosa (Visual Artist and Chair of CIAGP).

First to speak was Montserrat Soto, who described the dire situation of photographers, highlighting how difficult it had become for photographers to make a living today.

"Photography is among the worst treated content online. People think they can use images and that there are no rights attached to them. Photographers rarely get compensated for the use of their creations.  The digital space is hardly a source of revenues for us, to the point that it has become very difficult to make a living as a photographer today."

International Council of Creators of Graphic, Plastic and Photographic Arts (CIAGP) Chairman and Visual Artist Hervé di Rosa spoke to audience members about the visual artist's resale right, highlighting the need for this right to extend to photography. 

Writers & Directors Worldwide (W&DW) Chair Yves Nilly shed light on the situation of the AV market in Europe, stressing that the recent moibilization of AV directors and producers all around the world had started to have a positive impact on European Union policy makers.  

"I don't believe that copyright is the ennemy of the digital single market.  This is a misconception.  It is Europe that is complicated - not authors' rights," he said.

International Council of Music Creators (CIAM) Chair Lorenzo Ferrero then called for greater transparency and a better balance of remuneration schemes on online platforms.

"The balance between the rights attached to the compositions and the rights attached to the recordings is rarely fair," Mr Ferrero said, "We need more trannsparency."

Senegalese Director and Producer Angèle Diabang spoke about the successful creation of a new, multi-repertoire authors' society in Senegal, an important milestone in the recognition of the rights of all Senegalese creators.  She praised the invaluable support that CISAC has been providing in helping authors' societies develop around the world, particularly in Africa.

The panel was moderated by CISAC Chair of the Board Eric Baptiste.

Governance

Next to speak was CISAC Vice Chair of the Board and Brazilian Union of Composers (UBC) Chief Executive Marisa Gandelman, who introduced CISAC’s work on governance.  CISAC Director of Business Standards and Rules Sylvain Piat then presented the project of governance reform to CISAC members.

He explained that the objective of the project is to drive transparency across the confederation and provide renewed support to societies, taking into account the various stages of their development. His presentation enabled members to gain a better understanding of the planned changes in governance tools and membership criteria. 

International Creator’s Council Reports

CISAC’s International Creator’s Councils presented their activities from the year to date. 

CISAC Repertoires and Creators Relations Director Silvina Munich reported on a busy year of Creators’ and CISAC Presidency activities, with events in Geneva, Nashville, Buenos Aires, and New York.

Hervé di Rosa, Chair of International Council of Creators of Graphic, Plastic and Photographic Arts (CIAGP), updated the audience on the main projects in visual arts and announced his re-election as Chairman.  In support of African artists, the next CIAGP meeting will take place in Dakar, Senegal in May 2016.

Writers and Directors Worldwide (W&DW) Chair Yves Nilly summed up a busy year of activity with a video, produced in conjunction Argentinian Film Directors (DAC).

International Council of Creators of Music (CIAM) Chair Lorenzo Ferrero thanked the CISAC Secretariat for their unwavering support in extending the council's reach.

“Global partner alliances, strong cooperation and the Fair Trade Music campaign have been key initiatives,” Mr Ferrero said.

Activity reports from the CISAC Secretariat

Communications

CISAC Director of Communications Cécile Roy resumed proceedings in the afternoon with a recap of the organisation's communications achievements over the past 12 months. CISAC's new website was featured prominently, as were the organisation's successes in media relations.

Technical Committees 

Sylvain Piat reported on the work of CISAC’s Technical Committees, which have made significant progress in achieving transversal collaboration globally.

Speaking on behalf of CISAC Director of Information Systems José Macarro (who was unable to attend), Mr Piat updated the audience on the CIS-NET initiative, which now has more than 4,000 users.

Finances

CISAC Director of Operations Thibault de Fontenay presented on financial matters, including proposed changes to subscription fees, the approval for the 2014 accounts and the 2015 budget.  The 2014 accounts of the Confederation were unanimously approved.

Regional Overview

CISAC's Regional Directors updated members on their activity and advocacy work over the past 12 months, which brought about many achievements.

CISAC Regional Director for Latin America and the Caribbean Santiago Schuster was the first to speak, delivering a passionate presentation, highlighting the growth in collections in the region over the past five years.

CISAC Regional Director for Asia-Pacific Ben Ng explained his continued focus on reconnecting with member societies, pointing out to positive developments for many of them.

Speaking of behalf of the North American region, CISAC Board of Directors Chair Eric Baptiste reported on further progress in the region.

CISAC Regional Director for Europe Mitko Chatalbashev also reported on developments and on the substantial growth potential in the region.  

“I see professional rules verifications as partnerships rather than audits,” said Mr Chatalbashev. 

Closing the session, CISAC’s Regional Director for Africa, Balamine Ouattara highlighted the peculiar situation of collective management organisations in Africa where 31 out of 33 societies are “in developmental stage”.

Africa, nonetheless, has the strongest potential for growth. 

Resolutions: Fair Compensation Study

The general Assembly voted on a number of resolutions that were all unanimously adopted, including CIAM’s “Study Concerning Fair Compensation for Music Creators in the Digital Age” by Pierre-E. Lalonde (Read the study).

The annual meeting closed with the announcement of the 2016 General Assembly, which will be held on 10 June in Paris, France.