British creative sector calls for government to ensure future access to EU market

By Emmanuel Legrand

In the wake of Brexit, the UK government decision's not to implement the European Union's Directive on Copyright in the Digital Single Market, as well as the uncertainty about the future relationship between the EU and the UK continued to provoke reactions from stakeholders in the creative sector. The negotiations between the UK and the EU about the post-Brexit framework will be crucial to the future of the creative sector.

  Speaking on behalf of the independent community, Helen Smith, Executive Chair of Brussels-based independent music companies organisation IMPALA, warned that "a sector specific approach is essential to ensure ongoing terms accommodate the needs and opportunities of the cultural sectors in a post-Brexit world.”

  Smith added: “This is particularly key for small businesses and emerging artists, who won’t have the means to work their way around complex barriers. If we want an illustration of why that’s important, we just need to look at IMPALA’s album of the year shortlist published yesterday. That is the diversity we want to continue to see crossing borders. Brexit will not prevent that, the independents’ voice will keep being heard.”

Prioritise concrete terms

  IMPALA as well as many other organisations has expressed concern about the the UK’s decision regarding the EU’s copyright directive, which was adopted in the European Parliament with the votes of the UK. “We urge both the UK and the EU to prioritise concrete terms that recognise that the European music market is borderless in nature and needs nurturing with sector-specific deal terms,” said Smith.

  Smith's stance was echoed by Paul Pacifico, CEO of British independent music company's body AIM, who urged the government to "uphold their pre-election promises to support UK creators and creative businesses.” He added: “For British music to survive and thrive in a post-Brexit landscape it needs a modern copyright framework that fits the digital era."

  Speaking at the AIM Connected conference, Pacifico outlined a series of initiatives the indie community is pushing for with other sectors of the industry. Said Pacifico: “We are working alongside the Musicians Union and UK Music to promote the idea of a ‘touring passport’ to try to avoid a slide back to the bad old days of carnets and other bureaucratic hurdles that will make career development for emerging artists especially, all the more difficult, expensive and fraught with risk. We are scrutinising aspects of cross-border data sharing, transshipment of goods and all of the other areas of our businesses that could be disrupted if not considered properly, whatever the outcome of the various trade negotiations now underway."

Fixing the value gap 

  Pacifico also said that AIM is "working hard to ensure the UK doesn’t miss out on the opportunity to benefit from the legal certainty we were hoping to gain from the implementation of the European Copyright Directive. Whilst the Government has stated clearly that it will not implement the Directive, we will not let up in our campaign to ensure the value gap does not persist and that we are able to better balance the relationships and value-flows with some of the platforms, who remain crucial partners to our businesses, even though clearly some still need to reflect a better and more even balance of value in the protection of rights and flow of royalties.”

  The Society of Authors (SoA) and the Authors Licensing and Collecting Society (ALCS) have both expressed concern about the future copyright framework in the UK if the country does not implement the Copyright Directive. SoA chief executive Nicola Solomon said his organisation will continue to "press government" to obtain similar legislation as the Directive in the UK.

  "The directive includes many provisions which would see a more level playing field for authors when their work is used by platforms and publishers including provisions for transparency, fair pay and reversion of rights which are no longer being exploited," explained Solomon. "It includes checks on the activities of platforms which are vital to maintain privacy and the value of content."

Risk of losing trade

  Solomon noted that exports of published material are currently worth £2.9bn to the UK economy, with 36% of these exports going to Europe. Therefore, she added, "it is vital that access to these markets is maintained after Brexit and that there are no additional barriers to trade. We believe that our European trading partners are likely to insist on us applying law analogous to the directive when negotiating trade deals in order to maintain and support that well functioning marketplace. If we fail to enact it we risk losing important trade to the detriment of UK publishers and authors."

  Meanwhile, ALCS has requested an "urgent meeting to discuss the new approach taken by the Government" in a letter to the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, Baroness Nicky Morgan. "At a time when the UK creative industries are growing to unprecedented levels, we are also seeing a persistent decline in the earnings of professional authors, representing a real terms decrease of 42% since 2005," wrote Barbara Hayes, deputy chief executive of ALCS. "Chapter 3 of the directive includes the necessary means to redress this imbalance by placing a fairer value on creativity."