Digital future dominates CISAC and creators’ Asia-Pacific regional meetings
CISAC member societies and creators from the Asia-Pacific gathered in Macau for the CISAC Regional Asia-Pacific Committee (APC) meeting, the annual Creators Seminar and the Asia-Pacific Music Creators Alliance (APMA) General Assembly. Representatives from 19 societies joined the meeting, hosted by local society MACA.
The meeting discussed upgrades to CISAC’s music identifier ISWC, the impact of blockchain and artificial intelligence and broadcast licensing. It also learned about efforts to promote copyright cooperation among Sino-Lusophone countries.
The committee elected Satoshi Watanabe of JASRAC as Chair for a second term. Yenny Tsai of MÜST and Giseob You of KOMCA were elected as Vice Chairs.
APMA, a regional alliance of the International Council for Music Creators (CIAM), held its General Assembly and the Creator Seminar to review the previous year. APMA now encompasses songwriters from 21 countries and regions, following the addition of Nepal in January 2019. The alliance has been active promoting creators’ rights in local issues, including broadcast licensing in Macau, cinema licensing in Japan and a tariff approval system in Korea.
In 2019, lobbying efforts from an APMA participating creators’ organisation in Japan, the Japan Federation of Composers and Authors Association, successfully extended the copyright protection term to 70 years plus life in Japan. The 2017 Seoul Declaration from APMA placed obtaining this copyright term extension as one of its main priorities.
At the General Assembly, University of Hong Kong Professor Alice Lee presented the research uncovered in an APMA and CISAC-commissioned copyright buyout study on Asia-Pacific. It examines 8 jurisdictions in the region, including Australia, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Macau, Thailand and Vietnam.
Held the same day, the Creators Seminar included a panel on Sino-Lusophone copyright cooperation, which was included in the APMA Macau Statement encouraging Macau to become a hub for creative cultures to help drive the development of the global music industry.
Watanabe also drew attention to a MACA-SPAutores project to create an album of creators from Macau and Portugal, which is evidence of the territory’s advances in copyright protection and creativity.
MACA CEO Yan Ung drew attention to a MACA-SPAutores project to create an album by creators from Macau and Portugal, which is evidence of cross-territory cooperation in copyright protection and creativity, at the society's 10th anniversary gala dinner.