Ieri sera (29 Giugno 2016) sul Financial Times è stato pubblicato un articolo con riferimento alla lettera che oltre 1000 artisti in Europa hanno sottoscritto ed inviato al Presidente Junker della Commissione Europea per segnalare la questione che definiamo value gap ed evidenziare il divario tra l'attuale e capillare diffusione di musica e i ricavi che ne derivano. A pochi giorni dalla petizione lanciata negli Usa nei confronti del Digital millennium copyright act, gli artisti in Europa decidono di aprire un proprio fronte e far sentire la propria voce (la lettera completa è allegata).
Di seguito l'articolo, dal titolo: Pop stars complain to Brussels over YouTube e scritto da Matthew Garrahan
Pop stars ranging from Abba and Coldplay to Ed Sheeran and Lady Gaga have written to the European Commission complaining that Google’s YouTube is “unfairly siphoning value” away from artists and songwriters. More than a thousand acts signed the letter to Jean-Claude Juncker, the commission’s president, saying there was a growing “value gap” between rising music consumption — which is “exploding” — and revenue. “The value gap undermines the rights and revenues of those who create, invest in and own music, and distorts the market place,” the artists wrote. The letter is the latest salvo in a campaign against YouTube by acts and music labels, which are pressing for changes to provisions that give online video services “safe harbour” from prosecution if they are found to be hosting unauthorised content. “These protections were put in place two decades ago to help develop nascent digital start-ups, but today are being misapplied to corporations that distribute and monetise our works,” the artists said. YouTube, which shares advertising revenue from music videos with artists and labels, said it had paid out $3bn to the industry. A spokesman said the company was “working collaboratively” with the industry “to bring more money to artists”. YouTube’s Content ID system locates unauthorised uploads and gives artists and labels the option of generating money from them via advertising. “The overwhelming majority of labels and publishers have licensing agreements in place with YouTube, and choose to leave fan uploads up on the platform and earn money from them 95 per cent of the time,” said a YouTube spokesman. However, many in the music industry say too much unauthorised music is slipping through the cracks. Universal Music Group, the world’s biggest music group and home of acts such as Taylor Swift and Sam Smith, said in a recent filing to the US Copyright Office that it had hired a third-party company “just to find and claim UMG’s own content that has been used without authorisation on YouTube.” Sony Music said in a filing that “untold millions in revenue” would “never be realised by Sony due to plays of Sony Recordings that Content ID does not identify”. Global music revenues rose 3.2 per cent to $15bn in 2015 as digital sales of music overtook physical sales for the first time, according to the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry. It was the first year-on-year growth in almost 20 years and is being driven by streaming services, such as Spotify and Apple Music. However, the IFPI said in a recent report that growth was being held back because “revenues are not being fairly returned to rights holders”. The dispute with YouTube comes as the three largest music labels — Universal Music Group, Sony Music and Warner Music — negotiate new licensing deals with the Google-owned video platform.