IMPF Policy and Advocacy

IMPF works with its members across the world on intellectual property and copyright advocacy, government and institutional relations and outreach to collective management organisations at a global and national level. IMPF addresses the many current industry challenges we face and provides support to its publisher members both directly and via its coalition partners, to identify laws and policies which need adaptation to ensure a better environment for music and those who live from it to prosper. IMPF influences global laws and policies through strategic initiatives, linked directly to our local and national members. Those issues include but are not limited to those that are listed here. 

Artificial Intelligence

On the regulation of Artificial Intelligence 

IMPF is actively engaged in the implications and applications of Artificial Intelligence and the impact it will undoubtedly have on the music sector and on the broader creative industries at international level. Given the rapid expansion of AI technology and its uses, and its increasing impact on the creative sectors, with the music and visual arts markets being flooded by AI-generated works that originate from the unauthorised scraping of copyright-protected works, regulatory developments in this area are critical and pressing. Artificial intelligence regulation requires an international approach, working together with the European Union, the USA, and other G7 members as the foundation models on which artificial intelligence in the music sector is based, can be trained in, and exported to any country in the world and, as music is by its nature cross-border.  We take note that international developments are converging on some key issues: namely Labelling, Transparency, Copyright and Accountability. We call on national governments and intergovernmental institutions to effect measures that address these practical aspects pertaining to the roll out of Artificial Intelligence, so as to fully guard the rights of music publishers, songwriters and composers everywhere. IMPF is adamant that the protection of human artists’ copyright and livelihood should be explicitly acknowledged and provided for in any AI regulation. We welcome the developments in the European Union on the AI Act and we look forward to our ongoing engagement with the EU, UK, USA, Canada, Australia and other territories in this regard.  You can see our submissions here.

The Value Gap

The European Union Copyright Directive addresses the issue of what we call the Value Gap. The Value Gap is the difference between the value that online platforms such as You Tube, Facebook etc. extract from music and creators, and the value that is returned to all the music rightsholders.  

User uploaded content is the most popular way for people to access music, and while this allows creators to share their work, the downside is that these same creators are not compensated or remunerated, and sometimes not at all. Music publishers provide consumers with access to a wide selection of music. This has hugely benefited the platforms by generating significant profits for them on foot of providing access to this content. Content, and generating revenue from it, is the core of the platforms business models and music continues to dominate as the most essential form of all digital content. These platforms also act as a barrier to entry in the sense that licensed services are discouraged from entering the market for fear of not being able to compete with those benefiting from a free ride.  

The current unbalance has resulted in huge losses for creators and music publishers. Acknowledged by the European Union as of grave concern, the Value Gap was included in the EU Copyright Directive. Article 17 aims to solve the problem by determining the liability of internet intermediaries.  

While the Directive is a big step in the right direction, getting the platforms to “pay fair” for the music content they are generating big profits from, remains at the core of what music publishers and songwriters demand. 

Royalty free music and Buy-Outs

IMPF questions any service that offers access to wide catalogues of royalty free music. This distorts competition, making it impossible for anyone signed with a CMO (collective management) to compete and in many cases these royalty free catalogues stipulate that writers cannot be a member of a CMO, which in turn goes against the fundamental right to assign your copyrights any which way you see fit.  

Music creators are losing out on future earnings by these models of buy-out contracts. Audiovisual services and broadcasters online are forcing music creators into a once off payment in exchange for their rights. As the audiovisual market represents a vital revenue stream for creators, such business models are an abomination.  

IMPF demands in the first instance that a broadcaster should, as a priority, seek to ensure that authors are properly remunerated. Such a focus would ensure that the market is open to competition for the best creative content. 

Streaming services fee model

IMPF calls for the reform of the payment models used by certain streaming platforms in favour of a model which calculates royalties on a fixed ‘per play’ rate/pay per stream. The model currently in use by some platforms involves complex algorithms that calculate royalties based on the geographic location where the streaming occurs, and royalties are then aggregated based on all streaming activity. IMPF believes that such models inherently disadvantage artists, indies and repertoire of niche genres, and particularly works which might not be streamed very often.  

Stream Ripping and Stream Manipulation

Stream ripping involves turning a music file on almost any streaming platform into one that can be downloaded and kept permanently. While individual streams may not be worth very much, the repeated listening to such streams adds up to considerable amounts of revenue for rightsholders. Stream ripping means there are sites that are extracting an audio file from a licensed streaming platform and presenting it to a user as a free, permanent download. These sites exploit high levels of traffic and profit from advertising revenues without giving anything back to rightsholders. Stream ripping, like any other form of piracy, endangers the entire music ecosystem.   

Stream manipulation includes the artificial creation, by human or non-human means, of online or offline plays on audio and audio-visual streaming services i.e., where those plays do not represent genuine listening.  It has the potential to cause economic harm to streaming services providers, rightsholders, artists and advertisers, and to hurt artists by providing them with potentially misleading and artificial data, leaving them to either compete with artificially inflated stream counts or to consider engaging in these costly, unethical and improper practices themselves. In this regard, IMPF has signed a Code of Best Practice to combat stream manipulation which produces false streaming counts in relation to listening data. The coalition of signatories strives to detect and prevent stream manipulation to protect the rights of artists and creators online.  You can read the code here.

Collective Rights Management

IMPF works together with collective management organisations to promote greater transparency and better governance and to ensure that revenue is fairly collected and distributed to rightsholders.  IMPF recognises that having competing licensing models is healthy, and that common high standards of transparency, governance and accountability should be comparable across the board to allow for a level ground for competition. 

Exemptions and Limitations to Copyright protection

IMPF believes that the three-step test used for exceptions and limitations to copyright protection, provides sufficient flexibility to individual countries to determine their own policies and provide access solutions in the digital environment. We believe that the licensing market generally works well, and that exceptions and limitations can ultimately limit copyright and in so doing stifle and discourage creative growth. In all cases, a balance of competing rights must be achieved. IMPF supports the existing international copyright framework which provides States with the possibility to introduce exceptions and limitations to address specific issues that are most relevant to their national laws and cultural and educational priorities. The optional nature of most existing exceptions reflects the diversity and richness of cultures and national related policies.

Private copying levies and cloud computing

IMPF believes that licensing should always be the preferred option where it is possible, practical and enforceable. The opportunities for licensing are constantly growing due to the rapid development of new services. Nevertheless, this does not mean that levies should be abandoned as they are the optimal solution when monitoring the volume of private copying carried out is not feasible. Private copying levies aim to compensate rightsholders for losses from private copying of content. IMPF firmly believes in ensuring fair compensation for rightsholders in such situations. When determining whether certain content should be licensed or levied, critical questions need to be addressed. These include where and how data is stored and who has access to the files. It is important that the content to be distributed and stored is legal. Considered by many composers, publishers and other rightsholders as a vital source of income, levies need to be set at a rate which ensures adequate compensation for rightsholders. 

Territoriality

The concept of territoriality in music refers to the licensing of musical works to distributors and broadcasters based on linguistic or cultural markets. Territoriality in copyright application reflects the cultural and linguistic diversity of our world.  As music publishers, we have the incentive to license for as broad a territory as possible to yield increased revenue for our clients: songwriters and composers. Music publishers do not impose territorial restrictions but rather respond to or take heed of any restrictions in the market and normally successfully license multi-territorially. 

Privacy Online

Mass online theft not only diminishes the ability of songwriters and composers to earn a living, but it undermines the incentive to create new works and invest in innovation. Internet theft leads to a culture of disrespect for Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs), a culture which threatens jobs, growth and cultural diversity. Music publishers are constantly adapting to new forms of exploitation by opening new revenue streams and raising public awareness about the importance of copyright protection. Unfortunately, these efforts are redundant without effective enforcement of IPRs. IMPF calls for active cooperation from ISPs to tackle online copyright infringement and supports the idea of educating the public, particularly young people in schools, on the nature and value of copyright law. 

Free Trade Agreements

IMPF supports robust IP chapters in Free Trade Agreements (FTAs). FTAs serve to reduce import tariffs, remove non-tariff barriers and give effective access to markets between the relevant partner countries. FTAs often include provisions on the protection of Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs) and through the enhanced protection of IPRs abroad, publishers and artists may have greater possibilities to market their ideas and products in third countries. Under the principle of the most favoured nation, the highest standards of IP protection are applied to all trading partners to any agreement, and this is particularly relevant to rightsholders operating in countries where a weak copyright protection framework exists. In general, FTAs can encourage better global harmonisation of IPRs and this in turn can create further incentives for content creation and cross-border exchange of protected works. 

Copyright in the Developing World

IMPF fully supports the WIPO Development Agenda which is committed to improving the capacity of developing countries to benefit from the knowledge economy. A balanced and effective implementation of the “Development Agenda” will greatly contribute to recognising copyright’s vital role in pushing cultural and economic growth. Securing effective enforcement to permit lawful access to works is one of the greatest copyright challenges today. Enforcement of IPRs is key and without this, copyright protection itself will become irrelevant, a move that could seriously undermine any incentives for content creation and innovation. IMPF believes that existing intellectual property laws are sufficiently flexible to provide protection of literary and artistic traditional forms, cultural expressions and folklore (Traditional Cultural Expressions and Folklore). However, in cases where existing IP laws prove to be insufficient, IMPF supports voluntary instruments such as codes of conduct and other soft law mechanisms as the most effective solution.

Cultural Diversity

IMPF supports the UN Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions and the Convention’s recognition of the importance of IPRs in sustaining cultural creativity. There is a long and established tradition of music publishers, and independents in particular, driving cultural diversity through incorporating traditional melodies and investing in local and national repertories. Publishers remain particularly supportive of local culture and can communicate local works to larger markets and communities via established commercial networks.

IMPEL and IMPF

IMPEL and the Independent Music Publishers International Forum (IMPF) have a Charter of Co-operation to share experiences and best practices in the digital music marketplace.  IMPEL and IMPF shared goal is to drive streamlining and innovation in digital licensing, as well as increased choice, flexibility, and transparency for independent publishers and their songwriters.  Click to see the Charter of Co-operation.

Code of Conduct & Ethics and Pledge on Gender Equality

The Code sets out the standards of conduct to which the members of the Board of IMPF agree to adhere in the performance of their duties. The Board requires that the members of any committee or subcommittee to whom the Board has delegated certain of its powers, should also be bound by this Code. 

IMPF has pledgedto the Keychange campaign. Keychange is an international gender equality campaign which invests in emerging talent whilst encouraging festivals, conferences and a growing range of music organisations and institutions to sign a pledge to include at least 50% women and under-represented genders in their programming, staffing and beyond. 

IMPF strives to ensure gender equity across its working groups, committees, webinars, conference panels, speakers and international Boards. 

IMPF addresses the many current industry challenges we face through a pro-active advocacy.  You can access IMPF’s various campaigns and advocacy work including formal submissions and reports by clicking on the links below.

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