‘Optimistic’ Gibb closes 2011 CISAC World Copyright Summit
The singer and songwriter and President of CISAC, Robin Gibb, spoke of his optimism for the future of copyright in his closing address to participants at the third World Copyright Summit in Brussels.
He said that whilst he was frustrated by the pace of progress since delegates last met in Washington DC two years ago, he was nevertheless optimistic about the future.
‘As a community we have not done enough to ensure that when creative works are used by third parties for commercial gain that those who created them and those who invested in their creation are rewarded,’ he said.
But his optimism had been boosted by the European Commission’s recently published Strategy for Intellectual Property. He quoted from it: ‘The case does not need to be made anymore: intellectual property rights in their different forms and shapes are key assets of the EU economy’.
The implication of this recognition, he said, was that those who create those rights, ‘those who underpin the whole of the creative industries’, are also vital. It is the authors who are key assets he said, ‘and (they) should be cherished and nurtured as such’.
The future of the creative industries and of creative individuals will only be secured, he added, ‘if those who control, license and use our rights begin to take a longer term view. Scrabbling for individual short-term corporate commercial advantage will not build a sustainable model that ensures a healthy creative future.’
Looking ahead to the forthcoming draft EC Directive on Collective Rights Management, Gibb said it was a pity it had taken so long, but that he’d rather have a document that had been properly thought through ‘rather than a knee jerk reaction’.
But he recognised that challenges would not all be solved by an EC Directive. ‘They will lay some ground rules,’ he said, ‘but societies and their members have to play their part. They must be willing to co-operate where they can to increase efficiency and share costs.’
Only by doing so, he said, could they ensure that authors receive what is properly due to them. And, in turn, ‘re-assert themselves as the natural home of rights management and licensing, both in Europe and throughout the world’.
If you’re passionate about something, Gibb said, you fight for it. ‘My brothers and I persisted because we believed in ourselves and we had a champion in Robert Stigwood who believed that individuals had a fundamental right to own the ideas they created.’
The fight for creators’ rights would not be won overnight but he was optimistic that the tree would ‘not only bear fruit but will blossom and become an evergreen’.
‘I’m proud to be President of CISAC,’ Gibb concluded, ‘and I will keep on fighting for creators’ rights as long as I can draw breath.’
And that was it: 700 participants from 332 companies and organisations in 57 countries; two days featuring 36 sessions and 131 speakers: the third CISAC World Copyright Summit at the Square Conference Centre in Belgium.
Adrian Crookes