Copyright Directive

Strasbourg, 26^th of March 2019

On 26 March 2019, despite an unprecedented pressure, the European Parliament had the courage to adopt the Copyright Directive with 348 votes in favour, 274 against and 36 abstentions. The European Composer and Songwriter Alliance (ECSA), which represents over 50,000 professional composers and songwriters in 26 European countries, welcomes this historical decision for European cultural diversity and towards fair remuneration of authors in the digital age.

Alfons Karabuda, ECSA President said: “On behalf of the music authors community, let me first thank all the Members of the European Parliament who sent today a strong and positive signal to future generations who want to write, compose, create and be fairly remunerated for their creations”. 

ECSA welcomes in particular the provisions that rebalance the position of rightholders for the online exploitation of their content on video-sharing platforms. We also commend the European Parliament for adopting for the first time in EU law key standards of transparency and fairness to rebalance the systemic weak bargaining position that authors face in front of their contractual partners.

Alfons Karabuda concluded: “It was said to be the once in a generation reform, and the European Parliament can be proud of its historic vote. We now stand ready to contribute to an ambitious implementation of the Directive in all EU Members States so that it can honor its promises and improve the livelihoods of all music authors in the EU”.

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The European Composer and Songwriter Alliance (ECSA) represents over 50,000 professional composers and songwriters in 26 European countries. With 56 member organizations across Europe, the Alliance speaks for the interests of music creators of art & classical music (contemporary), film & audiovisual music, as well as popular music.

Web: www.composeralliance.org / EU Transparency Register ID: 71423433087-91