Photo Credit: alohafred
European policymakers gather to discuss how to end so-called “coercive buy-out practices” in a broader move to balance the copyright framework.
On Tuesday, European songwriters and composers, along with representatives of their collective management organizations, came together with key EU policymakers to address the long-standing and growing phenomenon of so-called “coercive buy-out practices” affecting audiovisual composers.
Hosted by Member of the European Parliament (MEP) Leire Pajin (S&D, Spain) in the European Parliament, this high-level meeting jointly organized by the European Composer and Songwriter Alliance (ECSA) and the European Grouping of Societies of Authors and Composers (GESAC), provided a platform for authors to share their experiences and rally EU policymakers on the necessary measures against such contractual practices.
Buy-out practices in contracts typically force music authors to give away all or part of their rights in exchange for an often low onetime upfront payment. This means that they lose control of their rights and any opportunity to be fairly remunerated from any of the exploitations of their works in the future. Despite previous efforts by ECSA and GESAC to tackle the practice, buy-out clauses in contracts persist and continue to affect music authors’ livelihoods. Often, these are imposed by non-European global players—mainly U.S.-based VOD platforms like Netflix—and such clauses may circumvent EU law.
Strengthening European sovereignty and ensuring EU law applies to all market players is becoming an increasingly important focus across the copyright landscape, particularly amid the rise of artificial intelligence.
“The European Parliament has worked intensively to address coercive buy-out practices that affect music creators across Europe. In the response to my parliamentary question, the European Commission has confirmed the importance of key principles enshrined in the Copyright Directive, including appropriate remuneration, which should be ensured also vis-à-vis non EU-based services operating in Europe,” said MEP Leire Pajin.
“The EU must now move towards firm commitments to ensure fairness and to prevent circumvention of EU rules through foreign laws and jurisdictions. The Parliament stands firmly behind creators, and we now expect concrete follow-up from the Commission to effectively tackle these abusive practices.”
“As highlighted by ECSA’s report on audiovisual composers’ contracts, the harmful use of buy-out contracts has become a widespread and urgent issue. With the rising dominance of a few large U.S.-based streaming services, these practices form a huge obstacle to fair remuneration for our members,” stated songwriter and ECSA President Helienne Lindvall. “It is absolutely crucial that these provisions are not circumvented by big market players. We must ensure a sustainable future for composers, where they get properly credited and are able to participate financially in the success of their works.”
“Ending abusive buy-out practices and securing fair, proportionate remuneration for creators is a European imperative,” added David El Sayegh, President of GESAC. “Collective management organizations are key to enforcing this principle and protecting creators’ rights across Europe.”
“As a composer, it is impossible to predict the success of a work at the point of creation. Royalties based on the exploitation of the work are therefore a crucial source of income. Buy-out clauses fully contradict the concept of fair remuneration for creators. Composers often do not have the bargaining power to stand up against such practices, as we face the risk of being blacklisted and excluded from future work opportunities. This is why we need solid legislation at EU level in order to be protected from harmful contractual practices,” said Jesper Hansen, film composer and ECSA Vice President.
“Among other things, the major problem with these abusive practices is that for a fixed price, you are forced to relinquish the rights to your work to the point of losing absolute control over it, especially when these types of contracts include fixed clauses that require you to allow your work synchronized in other, different, and future audiovisual productions, of which you will never be aware,” explained Roque Banos, Spanish film composer.
“As an author/composer, I am forced to allow third parties to profit from my work through other exploitation without receiving any income for it, because I also relinquish my moral rights about it.”
