CISAC@MIDEM 2015: "How can creative industries maximise revenues in the BRICs?"

The significant growth potential of creative industries in the BRICS was the focus of the panel that CISAC organised at MIDEM this year. 

In a lively and well-attended session, CISAC Board of Directors Vice Chair and Brazilian Union of Composers (UBC) CEO Marisa Gandelman, CISAC Board of Directors Member and SAMRO CEO Sipho Dlamini, and Universal Music Publishing Managing Director for India Achille Forler appraised the audience on how creative industries can boost their revenues in BRICS countries, provided that these countries adopt IP frameworks that foster the protection of authors and a business environment that enables collective management organisations to flourish.

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Setting the BRICS Scene

According to CISAC's recently released Global Collections Report, the BRICS markets have continued to show great promise with 2013 royalty collections leaping 30% on the previous year to €365m.

Despite vibrant creative industries, recent findings show that BRICS countries are only reaping 1% to 6% from their creative sectors while other countries around the world enjoy double digit growth. In view of these findings, CISAC has set out an action plan to unlock the potential of creative industries in these promising countries. 

Panelists experts Marisa Gandelman, Sipho Dlamini and Achille Forler explain the situation in their respective countries, sharing insight on what can be done to ensure a better future for creators.

Key highlights

SAMRO CEO Sipho Dlamini described the licensing situation for creators in South Africa as "a healthy space", unlike the situation in Europe and the United States, as collective management organisations have managed to keep their issues out of court so far.

The environment is not perfect but we have managed to educate the government and the market, explaining what it is that we do and how the money flows.  There are still a few amendments that we need in the copyright act that hopefully will be passed later this year.  It is a healthy, productive and challenging space."

Universal Music Publishing Managing Director for India Achille Forler noted that, thanks to the new Copyright Act, the work-for-hire culture in India was receding.  

The new Copyright Act since June 2012 has clarified the chaos that was created earlier by unfortunate court decisions," he said.  There are two very important clauses for us and for licensing.  One says that authors have an unwaivable right to royalties equivalent to 50% of the income for the publishers.  The other one says that collective licensing can be done only through a society," he added.

In Brazil, the situation is very different.  There is a long history of collective management and strong jurisprudence in favor of the creator.  However, Marisa Gandelman pointed out that recent provisions in the law regarding collective management have added complexity to the picture. 

It is not easy for the government to understand instantly how collective management organisations operate."

The relationship with government is hugely important to the success of collective management organisations and, therefore, the situation of creators.  In India, through authors have had no support from the judiciary, Parliament has intervened repeatedly to "set the matters right" going as far as introducing the resale right.  In South Africa, SAMRO has been honing its relationship with the government in order to avoid unnecessary interventionism.  In Brazil, where exclusive rights are in place, authors' societies have long enjoyed a relatively free business environment with little government interference, which has contributed to their "good results".

Achille Forler then highlighted the importance of securing the right IP strategy so that business players invest in the market.  

"India only makes €6 million a year in publishing; something is wrong," he said.

In Africa, where mobile is taking off in a big way, market players need to develop new business models that benefit everyone, authors, publishers, telecoms companies and other distribution platforms.

If we don't get this balance right, we are going to hinder the growth. That's the reality," said Dlamini.

Marisa Gandelman highlighted the importance of transparency and the role of CISAC in enhancing the cooperation amongst its international network of members.

"Our main strategy nowadays is to be transparent. We can show our government that we follow the rules of all CISAC societies, she explained.

Experts concluded the panel by pointing out the importance of data to show the true value that music and other artistic repertoires contribute to the economy.

Panel Video