CISAC and JASRAC discuss initiatives to bring creators fair remuneration in the digital world

The International Confederation of Societies of Authors and Composers (CISAC) and the Japanese Society for Rights of Authors, Composers and Publishers (JASRAC) held a joint press conference in Tokyo on April 6, 2023, with Björn Ulvaeus (CISAC President), Gadi Oron (CISAC Director General), and IZAWA Kazumasa (JASRAC President) discussing challenges, creators’ remuneration in the digital world and the GDSDX initiative.

At the beginning of the press conference, Björn Ulvaeus, CISAC President and member of Swedish pop group ABBA, highlighted the challenges posed by the digital era. Björn Ulvaeus, President of CISAC said:

“Music streaming has transformed life for creators, bringing huge benefits but also the challenge of developing robust systems to accurately identify and pay songwriters and composers.  This is a big priority as streaming becomes the dominant revenue channel for the music sector.  Initiatives such as GDSDX, bringing together CISAC’s members in Asia Pacific, are helping to address this problem and setting an example to other regions of the world. The GDSDX platform can contribute to a better music metadata exchange system, and therefore fairer and more efficient remuneration for creators.”

CISAC Director General Gadi Oron continued by stating that “The Global Digital Service Data Exchange (GDSDX) is an important project to improve data exchange in the streaming environment and it offers benefits to creators and the whole collective management system.  The initiative, led by JASRAC and supported by member societies in Asia - KOMCA, FILSCAP, MÜST and WAMI - breaks new ground in international collaboration in the field of authors’ rights metadata. The project will provide a new cross-reference tool for matching streaming platforms’ usage data with societies’ metadata.  It is a win-win partnership, demonstrating a successful collaboration between digital services and creators.”

Concluding the press conference, JASRAC President IZAWA stated that the “rapid development of digital technology and networks have led to an enormous volume of songs actually crossing borders, and the number is at a scale where processing by traditional methods is impossible. The essence of copyright management in the digital era is to use metadata, and GDSDX is one example of JASRAC paving the way forward.” He also stated that “the initiative of utilizing technology leads to improvement in the value of licenses and will bring merits to users, of course, but also to the public.”  He  emphasized that “In Japan, a country with declining population, it is important to place culture and arts at the base of its industry. That is why strengthening the ability to remunerate creators is a common issue for society as whole.”

A number of DSPs (digital service providers) have contributed supportive messages to the GDSDX initiative covered in the press conference.

CISAC and JASRAC will drive forward initiatives to better enhance remuneration to creators in the digital society.

Download the CISAC / JASRAC Joint Press Conference material (excerpt)

Messages from Digital Service Providers Supporting the GDSDX Initiative

Apple

“The development of a platform by which Collective Rights Management Organizations share their cross-referenced match data between them is an effective tool to strengthen digital royalty collection and distribution, and bring efficiencies to the market. We are pleased to take part in this progressive initiative which we expect will be of great benefit to songwriters” - Elena Segal, Global Senior Director of Music Publishing, Apple

Spotify

"Spotify supports any initiative that results in de-duplication of effort and drives efficiencies and accuracy in publishing payments. We celebrate the collaborative aspects of GDSDX and are pleased to see it become a reality." - Magali Clapier, Director, Publishing Operations, Spotify

TikTok

"At TikTok we are focused on assuring that creators are paid fairly for their work. GDSDX is a great initiative which will increase the accuracy of identification of rights, and the efficiency of distribution for rightsholders through closer engagement between CMOs and DSPs in the Asia Pacific region.” - Ole Obermann, Global Head of Music, TikTok

YouTube

"Our goal at YouTube is to contribute to the overall health and growth of the music economy. We are excited to see initiatives such as GDSDX come to life to help CMOs strengthen digital royalty collection across borders, and hope to continue our partnership with CISAC and CMOs to provide songwriters and artists with a meaningful and incremental source of revenue." - Paul Smith, Managing Director, YouTube Music, APAC