Streaming: help us change the game!
Whilst music streaming businesses develop at a quick pace, performers are still not rewarded fairly — if at all — when their performances are exploited online.
Together with three other international organisations (AEPO‐ARTIS, FIA and IAO), FIM is involved in the Fair Internet campaign, which is asking for the introduction in EU law of a fair and equitable remuneration to be paid to performers every time their performances are used online.
This campaign needs your support. Here is what you are requested to do
— Sign the campaign petition and share it on social networks.
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Kenya | The government must recognize KeMU as a union!
The political crisis in the wake of the 2017 elections in Kenya has created considerable difficulties for professional musicians whose engagements have seriously diminished, but also for national union KeMU, whose activities and projects have been significantly disrupted.
It was against this backdrop that, along with SMF and KeMU, FIM organised a national workshop in Nairobi (4−6 September 2018) within the scope of a union training programme backed by Union to Union. The workshop focused on developing and organising the union as well as on gender equality.
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Ivory Coast | SAMCI continues structuring
FIM and the Musicians’ Union of the Ivory Coast (SAMCI) organised a national training workshop in Abidjan, from 16 – 19 July 2018, as part of its regional training programme backed by Union to Union. The workshop benefitted from a partnership with regional organisation Arterial Network, whose headquarters are in Abidjan.
The workshop focused on two issues:
1. the union’s internal organisation;
2. gender equality.
Since July 2017, SAMCI has been officially recognized as a professional union, has become a FIM member and held empowerment meetings for various communities of musicians, mainly in the Abidjan region.
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The European Parliament adopts the copyright directive
On Wednesday 12 September 2018, the European Parliament adopted the proposed directive on copyright in the digital single market. It also gave mandate to the Committee on Legal Affairs (JURI) to enter into inter‐institutional negotiations with the Commission and the Council (trialogue).
This result is a genuine success for performers, achieved after considerable efforts and against a globally hostile backdrop. In reality, the European Commission’s initial proposal fell way short of our expectations, entirely leaving to one side, for example, the central issue of artists’ remuneration where streaming was concerned.
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Costa Rica | FIM‐UTM National Workshop
By Ananay Aguilar
On 10 – 12 July 2018, FIM held a national workshop in San José, Costa Rica, sponsored by Union To Union and backed by SMF. The event sought to support the Costa Rican trade union of music workers (UTM) on current priority areas such as
– The implementation at national level of UNESCO’s Recommendation concerning the status of the artist;
– The promotion of gender equality in the music sector;
– The right to collective bargaining /to strike /to health and safety;
– The recognition of freelance musicians as workers;
– The monetisation of works and performances in the digital environment, and
– Copyright and related rights in international treaties /in national law.
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Fair Internet | Artists meet European MPs
The work of the European Parliament on the proposed European Directive on copyright in the digital single market is reaching its end: after the opinion committees, the Committee on Legal Affairs (JURI) will be stating its position on 21 June on the text which will be submitted to a vote of the European Parliament, in principle during the coming weeks.
The Parliament’s CULT (Culture) and ITRE (Industry) Committees have already come out in favour of the introduction, for performers, of a non‐transferable, collectively‐administered right to remuneration.
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Tidal suspected of huge fraud
Launched in Sweden in 2014, the Tidal music streaming service has since 2015 belonged to the Project Panther Ltd Company, owned by rapper Jay‑Z married to singer Beyoncé.
Competing with platforms such as Spotify, Deezer or Apple Music, Tidal underscores a more equitable redistribution of its revenues in favour of artists and the availability of part of its catalogue in MQA format, a new standard aimed at an audiophile clientele.
While Tidal’s profitability perspectives are more uncertain than ever, a report from the Center for Cyber and Information Security (CCIS) from the Science Faculty of Norway (the country where Tidal’s parent company is located) indicates that Tidal allegedly allocated 320 million false listenings to two albums: Kanye West’s The Life of Pablo and Beyoncé’s Lemonade.
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Senegal | AMS is changing everything for the music sector
In keeping with the meeting held in March 2017, FIM and AMS organised a new workshop in Dakar from 14 to 16 May 2018, within the scope of the regional programme for union training backed by Swedish confederation Union to Union. On this occasion, visits to the Ministry of Labour, employers and ILO helped define a coherent strategy towards concluding collective agreements and making headway along gender equality lines.
The workshop, which opened with a speech from the Minister of Culture, was also attended by a representative from UNESCO’s Dakar Office and a representative from ILO‐ACTRAV.
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The FIM‐Pearle* hands‐on guide to CITES is now available
FIM and Pearle* are publishing a guide which tells you all you need to know (or practically) on administrative obligations linked to the implementation of CITES
The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) imposes a certain number of obligations on those travelling with an object which, wholly or partially, comes from a protected animal or plant species. Musical instruments containing ivory, ebony, rosewood or a species belonging to the Dalbergiae family are concerned by these measures.
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