EU Commission Internal Market - 15/12/08

Speech by Commissioner McCreevy at Creators Conference organised by UK Music
11 December 2008
"Ladies and Gentlemen, It is well known that there is no place I like better than to be among innovators, entrepreneurs and business people. I usually address people involved in the more main stream industries – manufacturers of goods and suppliers of services. And while the entertainment business is far more glamorous than manufacturing widgets, at the end of the day it's all about making a living and being paid for your creativity and innovation. So it is a great pleasure for me to be here this morning to speak to such an illustrious group of artists and creators. And I would like to take this opportunity to explain why I, the Commissioner for the Internal Market – usually associated with big banks and other large financial industries – launched a proposal to obtain 'a better deal for performers'.

First and foremost, I consider copyright and the music industry to be just as important as any other part of my portfolio – not only in terms of the economic and cultural benefits it brings to the European Union, but perhaps even more importantly because of the entertainment and feel good factor music brings to our daily lives." [Europa]

McCreevy tells industry to sort out performer fund
"The success of copyright term extension could hinge on how quickly the industry agrees to divvy up the performer fund proposed by Charlie McCreevy in his Directive. The EC Internal Market commissioner, who proposed extending copyright from 50 to 95 years, in February also proposed a fund should be set aside for session musicians.

In the proposal he said that the performers would get 20% of gross revenue generated in the extended term. However, various sectors of the industry are also keen that featured artists benefit from the fund and there have been talks between the BPI, Musicians’ Union and Music Managers Forum to resolve this issue." [MusicWeek]