Last week the European Parliament plenary voted in favour of a proposal for a Directive to extend the term of protection for performers’ rights and sound recordings and to introduce complementary measures for performing artists in the music sector.

The proposal extends the duration of protection over music performances and recordings from 50 to 70 years, which would help avoid situations where performers lose their rights over their performances while they are still alive, when they still count on intellectual property rights revenues for a living. Furthermore the proposal put in place a set of measures to strengthen the position of performers in their negotiations with phonogram producers and better recognize the value of performers’ work and creative input on the music market.

The Association of European Performers’ Organisations AEPO-ARTIS, which represents 28 European performers’ collective management societies, totalizing some 350.000 members (musicians, singers, dancers, actors etc.) greets the vote as a strong and positive signal but holds that the proposal does not answer all needs of performing artists in Europe. In particular, performers’ rights in the audiovisual sector and the recognition in the digital environment of performers’ creative work and talent certainly need further work and proposals at European level.

Source: AEPO-ARTIS, Press release, 23.04.2009