A Successful International Authors' conference (MAKK 2015) in Croatia (Uniquement en anglais)
This year's MAKK 2015 has attracted most attention from the public for topics from the cultural & creative industries' sector. More than 300 participants attended the conference in Croatia at the Zagreb's Museum of Contemporary Art on November 26th and 27th, listening to the presentations and panel discussions focusing on the cultural and economic contribution of authors and creators from various artistic fields: music, literature, film, photography and design.
For information about this year's conference, check the MAKK 2015 wrap - up video (with English subtitles).
The youngest member of Croatian Composers' Society, 11-years old Frano Živković from Rijeka opened the conference with his own composition. He also paid tribute to the recently departed icon of Croatian music Arsen Dedić, performing with Marko Tolja and the string quartet "Prelude" Arsen's composition "Moj zanat".
After introductory address from organizers' representatives: HDS ZAMP and Croatian Copyright Society, and from the MAKK patron State Intellectual Property Office, first preliminary results of the study on the economic value of Croatian music industry were presented. Then followed the round table "Authors' rights – a para-fiscal charge?", when Igor Rađenović, Deputy Minister of Finance, emphasized that the Register of non-tax revenues, in which the Government included the fees from authors' and related rights, is not a binding document, but is still subject to public consultation.
Nenad Marčec, HDS ZAMP's CEO, insisted that the authors' and related rights' revenue should be removed from the said Register, due to the fact that authors' and related rights are private rights, sold as the specific service, i.e. using music in this particular case.
Burak Özgen, Senior Legal Adviser in GESAC, briefed on the latest events in Brussels on changes related to copyright. He stressed four action fields defined by the Commission: portability, cross-border action, exceptions and limitations and transfer of value; and in particular GESAC’s activities in relation to the problem of transfer of value on the Internet. He also stressed that the Commission will announce the next official communication on these issues on December 9th.
Fascinating perspectives on creativity, authors' rights and their potential in the digital environment were presented by Miroslav Škoro, Croatian famous author and performer, Andy Wright, music producer and Grammy award winner, Ceco Gaković, digital developer and a sound branding expert John Groves.
The second day of MAKK 2015 focused on the activities of the Croatian Copyright Society, with participation of domestic and international legal experts, including Victor Nabhan, the President of the ALAI (Association Littéraire et Artistique Internationale), an international association of the copyright societies worldwide.
The panel about protection and administration of photographic rights sparked a lively discussion, both on and off stage.
As part of this year's MAKK, a first Croatian music meetup titled "Digital future of Croatian music" was organized.
The third edition of MAKK proved itself as the most successful one yet. Attractive topics and interesting international speakers have drawn to MAKK a lot of interested public, authors and creators, media, as well as public figures and political parties.
The fourth edition of MAKK 2016 will be held on 24th and 25th November 2016, with participation of many international and noteworthy names from the field of music and other creative fields.
More info: www.makk.hr