Music organisations call for Copyright Directive to be cancelled in current form

A collective of European creatives and rightsholders is calling on negotiators not to proceed with Copyright Directive on the basis of current proposals.

The European Parliament voted to accept the Article 13 digital copyright reforms last September, a move that was warmly welcomed by the music industry.

Its approval meant the EU's three main institutions, the European Commission, the European Parliament and the EU Council, could begin to discuss digital copyright together.

However, a letter signed by music organisations ICMP, IFPI and IMPALA, and bodies from the sport and audio-visual sectors says that the current draft no longer meets the original objectives.

"The key aims of the original draft Directive were to create a level playing field in the online Digital Single Market and strengthen the ability of European rightsholders to create and invest in new and diverse content across Europe," it says. "Far from levelling the playing field, the proposed approach would cause serious harm by not only failing to meet its objectives, but actually risking leaving European producers, distributors and creators worse off.

"Regrettably, under these conditions we would rather have no Directive at all than a bad Directive."

The full letter reads as follows:

We are writing as a group of rightsholders representing the music, audio-visual, broadcasting and sports industries, regarding the direction of travel for the Directive on Copyright in the Digital Single Market.

The key aims of the original draft Directive were to create a level playing field in the online Digital Single Market and strengthen the ability of European rightsholders to create and invest in new and diverse content across Europe.

Despite our constant commitment in the last two years to finding a viable solution, and having proposed many positive alternatives, the text - as currently drafted and on the table - no longer meets these objectives, not only in respect of any one article, but as a whole. As rightsholders we are not able to support it or the impact it will have on the European creative sector.

We appreciate the efforts made by several parties to attempt to achieve a good compromise in the long negotiations of recent months. Nevertheless, the outcome of these negotiations in several of the Council discussions has been to produce a text which contains elements which fundamentally go against copyright principles enshrined in EU and international copyright law.

Far from levelling the playing field, the proposed approach would cause serious harm by not only failing to meet its objectives, but actually risking leaving European producers, distributors and creators worse off.

Regrettably, under these conditions we would rather have no Directive at all than a bad Directive. We therefore call on negotiators to not proceed on the basis of the latest proposals from the Council.

The full list of signatories is below:

ACT – Association of Commercial Television in Europe*

AKTV – Czech Association of Commercial Television

DFL – German Football League

ICMP – The Global Voice of Music Publishing

IFPI – Representing the Recording Industry Worldwide

IMPALA – Independent Music Companies Association

La Liga – The Spanish Football League

Mediapro – Independent Production Company

The Premier League – The English Football League

Zwiazek Pracodawców Prywatnych Mediów – Polish Union of Private Media Employers, Lewiatan