Advisory Committee

Created in 1929 as a licensing body on behalf of European societies, since 1968 BIEM is the international representative for mechanical recording rights societies, present in most countries around the world. 53 mechanical rights societies from 56 countries grant licences to operators (phonogram and videogram producers and online services, in particular) for reproduction of the musical, literary and dramatic works they need. Thanks to mandates received from its members, BIEM negotiates a standard agreement with IFPI fixing the conditions for the use of the societies’ repertoires. The standard agreement is applied by the member societies when there is no compulsory licence or statutory licence in their territory.BIEM also represents and defends the interests of its member societies in forums relating to authors’ rights such as WIPO, UNESCO, TRIPS and the WCO. For further information, please visit our website : www.biem.org.

The European Composer and Songwriter Alliance (ECSA) is an international non-profit organization registered under Belgian law with an office in the European House for Culture, Flagey, Brussels. As a professional organization, ECSA speaks in the name of all European composers and songwriters of any genre of music creation and is the voice of composers and songwriters at European level. ECSA is formed by the three main genre specific federations of composers in Europe: the Alliance of Popular Music Composers of Europe (APCOE), the European Composers Forum (ECF) and the Federation of Film and Audiovisual Composers of Europe (FFACE); it is composed by 36 organizations of composers and songwriters in 28 European countries and represents over 12.000 European music creators.
ECSA’s aim is to ensure effective protection of music authors’ rights at the highest level before the European Institutions (Commission, Council, Parliament and Economic and Social Committee) and before international institutions such as WIPO, Council of Europe, WTO and UNESCO.
For further information please visit the website: www.composeralliance.org

European Visual Artists (EVA) represents the interests of authors’ collective management societies for the visual arts. It started its activity back in the early 90ties and was formally founded in 1997 with its seat in Brussels. Today, 25 European collecting societies for visual creators are gathered under this roof as members or observers, these societies play an important role to maintain the Cultural Diversity in Europe. They manage collectively authors’ rights of close to 60 000 authors of works of fine art, illustration, photography, design, architecture and other visual works. The EVA societies also founded in 2002 OnLineArt (OLA) a one stop shop for world-wide licenses of art works in websites. In cooperation with CISAC and other International and European bodies EVA represents the interests of its members towards the European institutions and is official observer to WIPO.

The Federation of European Film Directors is an international, non-profit federation of 38 national associations of film and television directors, across 29 European countries. Founded in Venice, Italy, in 1980, FERA has responded to the many changes in the audiovisual industry over the last thirty years always with the focus on how to maximize the creative, social and commercial potential of the growing audiovisual industry, art and culture.

The history of film shows that the best films are made when directors are afforded conditions that enable them to pursue their vision to the full. The simple yet ambitious aim of FERA is to take concrete, coordinated and comprehensive action in all areas that are crucial to the success of European audiovisual works and their creators.

The current President of FERA is István Szabó (elected in 2008).

The European Grouping of Societies of Authors and Composers (GESAC) links together 33 of the biggest collective copyright management societies (authors’ societies) in the European Union, Norway and Switzerland, which administer the royalties of almost 700 000 authors, and composers in a range of sectors – music, audiovisual, literary, visual arts, etc. – , as well as of music publishers and other rights holders.

Based in Brussels, GESAC represents the interests of its members towards the European Institutions. GESAC works for the promotion of a high level of protection for copyright and for adequate enforcement that enables rights holders to earn a decent income from the works they create. Authors’ societies are a natural link between authors and users and EU legislation must capitalise on them”.

ICMP is the international umbrella trade association representing the interests of the global music publishing community. The constituent members of ICMP are music publishers’ associations from Europe, the Middle East, North and South America, Africa and Asia-Pacific. Included are the leading independent international, regional and national music publishers, mainly SMEs, throughout the world, as well as the four multinational music publishing companies. Our members cover all music genres, ranging from pop to classical and everything in between. They invest in lyricists and composers and advocate for fair and effective copyright laws, which allow artists to make a living from their creativity. As the voice and point of reference of music publishing, and the community of composers and songwriters, ICMP’s mission is to increase the level of copyright protection internationally, encourage a better environment for the music publishing business, influence legislation and act as an industry forum for consolidating global positions

The International Federation of Reproduction Rights Organisations (IFRRO) is an international, independent, not-for-profit organisation representing the interests of collective management organisations and authors and publishers in the field of text and image based works. These organisations are known as Reproduction Rights Organisations (RROs) which administer reproduction and other relevant rights, including certain digital rights, on behalf of both publishers and authors including visual artists.

Active in every continent, it has some 130 members including 55 national and international author, publisher and visual creator associations. IFRRO’s global network of members helps facilitate widespread legal access to published, copyright protected literary, visual and musical works for the public. IFRRO partners international organisations such as WIPO and UNESCO, and regional ones such as ARIPO, OAPI and CERLALC to undertake copyright awareness, capacity building and training activities. Within Europe, IFRRO cooperates with the EU institutions in developing solutions to facilitate access to copyright work.

The Society of Audiovisual Authors (SAA) is an association of European Collective Management Societies representing audiovisual authors. Through its 24 members from 17 countries SAA represents over 100,000 film and television European screenwriters and directors.
SAA’s main objectives are the following:
• To defend and strengthen the economic and moral rights of audiovisual authors;
• To secure fair remuneration for audiovisual authors for every use of their works;
• To develop, promote and facilitate the management of rights by member societies.
With the support of its Board of Patrons that consists of eminent active European writers and directors and through its large network of contacts, position papers, meetings and events, SAA speaks on audiovisual author-related issues to the relevant European policy-makers, stakeholders, the media and the general public (www.saa-authors.eu).