In Europe, approved the Copyright Directive - why streaming platforms oppose
This year, the Copyright Directive will take effect in Europe. It will oblige streaming platforms to introduce content filters that will prevent users from downloading unlicensed content (including music) to the site.
Politicians say the law will benefit musicians and composers, but media companies disagree. Consider the opinions of both parties. Who is right - we will discuss in the comments.
Photo by Hernán Piñera / CC BY-SA
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The copyright directive was approved by the European Parliament in September 2018. The greatest interest in it is the article number 13. It imposes liability for the infringement of any copyrights on the media platforms, which obliges the latter to check all the content uploaded by users. In practice, this means that sites should introduce an automatic recognition system of unlicensed music and video.
For this reason, heated debate ensued around Article 13. According to politicians, the new directive will increase the size of royalties that musicians receive from streaming platforms. Media platforms, on the contrary, claim that the Directive’s requirements will only complicate the publication of content by performers (for example, on sites such as YouTube), which will lead to a reduction in royalty payments for performers.
Critics of the new law believe that the implementation of content filters will have a negative impact on the operation of services. One of the reasons - the high cost of such decisions. In the same YouTube, the ContentID recognition system (implemented long before the law appeared) spent more than $ 60 million. Such amounts may be unaffordable for small music services.
According to representatives of YouTube, the adoption of the law will lead to the fact that the site will have to block all videos that do not contain full information about copyright to content. This will affect educational videos, remixes and cover versions of the songs, because their creators do not own all the audio and video from the video.
The position of the company was further explained by YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki. According to her, such musicians as Ed Sheeran and Dua Lipa began their careers on YouTube, and in the most popular clip on the site - Despacito - not all of the materials used belong to the authors. Article 13 prohibits such creativity, and therefore the law will lead to the fact that talented performers will not be able to find their audience on YouTube.
Wojitsky was supported by Lyor Cohen, director of the musical direction of the site. According to him, half of the music tracks on YouTube are not all copyright holders. According to the Directive, such content must be blocked. This will lead to the fact that the musicians will receive even less money for their work. YouTube now lists payouts to executives that are comparable in size to Spotify payments, Cohen says.
Against the new bill and made Twitch. Co-founder Emmett Shear (Emmett Shear) wrote an open letter in which he urged the whole community to sign a petition against EU directives. The text of the letter was published on Reddit . It says that the law will create a mass of inconvenience for community members from around the world and will not lead to an increase in payments for rightholders. In Twitch, they will simply be forced to restrict access to broadcasts by users of Europeans.
Now representatives of the IT industry are proposing to change the text of the law in such a way as to remove from platforms the responsibility for unlicensed content. They believe that the right holders should themselves monitor how their materials are used and submit the appropriate blocking requests (that is, leave everything as it is done now).
Photo by Nadine Heidrich / CC BY
In turn, many musicians and record companies expressed themselves in support of the law. Several organizations have written an open letter . In it, they said that the law would bring justice to the content platforms and contribute to the development of independent creativity.
According to Jeff Taylor, CEO of the British Phonogram Manufacturers Association (Geoff Taylor), copyright holders receive 16 times less money from YouTube than they do from streaming services. He noted that the current mechanisms of work are not effective, therefore it is necessary to implement the version proposed by EU lawmakers.
European experts point out that even the current edition, approved by the European Parliament, will still undergo certain changes. Now politicians are developing the final text of the Directive. However, as noted by deputies who oppose article 13, there are no significant changes in the law.
Although some chances for media sites remain. Final drafting of the law will take several months (completed in the first half of 2019). At this time, the EU Council will consult with the authorities of the countries and study public opinion.
Additional reading - our World Hi-Fi and tg-microformat about sound:
Windows with active noise cancellation muffle the sounds of the metropolis
Failure of the flight to the moon: what tells the previously unknown record
Musical roads - what it is and why they are not in Russia
Politicians say the law will benefit musicians and composers, but media companies disagree. Consider the opinions of both parties. Who is right - we will discuss in the comments.
Photo by Hernán Piñera / CC BY-SA
')
What is this directive?
The copyright directive was approved by the European Parliament in September 2018. The greatest interest in it is the article number 13. It imposes liability for the infringement of any copyrights on the media platforms, which obliges the latter to check all the content uploaded by users. In practice, this means that sites should introduce an automatic recognition system of unlicensed music and video.
For this reason, heated debate ensued around Article 13. According to politicians, the new directive will increase the size of royalties that musicians receive from streaming platforms. Media platforms, on the contrary, claim that the Directive’s requirements will only complicate the publication of content by performers (for example, on sites such as YouTube), which will lead to a reduction in royalty payments for performers.
Content platforms against Article 13
Critics of the new law believe that the implementation of content filters will have a negative impact on the operation of services. One of the reasons - the high cost of such decisions. In the same YouTube, the ContentID recognition system (implemented long before the law appeared) spent more than $ 60 million. Such amounts may be unaffordable for small music services.
In addition, it is unclear exactly how automatic filtering will be implemented. The machine will not be able to distinguish music, images, videos or texts uploaded by the author from content uploaded by someone else. This provided that the implementation of existing systems leaves much to be desired: there are a lot of cases with improper operation of filters.
According to representatives of YouTube, the adoption of the law will lead to the fact that the site will have to block all videos that do not contain full information about copyright to content. This will affect educational videos, remixes and cover versions of the songs, because their creators do not own all the audio and video from the video.
The position of the company was further explained by YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki. According to her, such musicians as Ed Sheeran and Dua Lipa began their careers on YouTube, and in the most popular clip on the site - Despacito - not all of the materials used belong to the authors. Article 13 prohibits such creativity, and therefore the law will lead to the fact that talented performers will not be able to find their audience on YouTube.
Wojitsky was supported by Lyor Cohen, director of the musical direction of the site. According to him, half of the music tracks on YouTube are not all copyright holders. According to the Directive, such content must be blocked. This will lead to the fact that the musicians will receive even less money for their work. YouTube now lists payouts to executives that are comparable in size to Spotify payments, Cohen says.
Against the new bill and made Twitch. Co-founder Emmett Shear (Emmett Shear) wrote an open letter in which he urged the whole community to sign a petition against EU directives. The text of the letter was published on Reddit . It says that the law will create a mass of inconvenience for community members from around the world and will not lead to an increase in payments for rightholders. In Twitch, they will simply be forced to restrict access to broadcasts by users of Europeans.
Now representatives of the IT industry are proposing to change the text of the law in such a way as to remove from platforms the responsibility for unlicensed content. They believe that the right holders should themselves monitor how their materials are used and submit the appropriate blocking requests (that is, leave everything as it is done now).
Photo by Nadine Heidrich / CC BY
Who spoke in favor
In turn, many musicians and record companies expressed themselves in support of the law. Several organizations have written an open letter . In it, they said that the law would bring justice to the content platforms and contribute to the development of independent creativity.
According to Jeff Taylor, CEO of the British Phonogram Manufacturers Association (Geoff Taylor), copyright holders receive 16 times less money from YouTube than they do from streaming services. He noted that the current mechanisms of work are not effective, therefore it is necessary to implement the version proposed by EU lawmakers.
What's next
European experts point out that even the current edition, approved by the European Parliament, will still undergo certain changes. Now politicians are developing the final text of the Directive. However, as noted by deputies who oppose article 13, there are no significant changes in the law.
Although some chances for media sites remain. Final drafting of the law will take several months (completed in the first half of 2019). At this time, the EU Council will consult with the authorities of the countries and study public opinion.
Additional reading - our World Hi-Fi and tg-microformat about sound:
Windows with active noise cancellation muffle the sounds of the metropolis Failure of the flight to the moon: what tells the previously unknown record Musical roads - what it is and why they are not in RussiaSource: https://habr.com/ru/post/435206/
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