New copyright directive just approved in EU!

Envato Authors AudioJungle
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This is OUTSTANDINGLY GREAT NEWS for content creators I believe :tada::tada::tada:

If you see it differently please share your thoughts as well.

I am not entirely sure how this will affect the stock music business in details, but for sure Content ID and P.R.O money will increase significantly because Youtube, Facebook etc all the giants will need to have better and more transparent deals with content creators on how to share the advertising money with them. The implementation will be done sometime in 2021.

Read about it here:



https://edition.cnn.com/2019/03/26/tech/eu-copyright-article-13/index.html

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This is of course a great step in the right direction for us content creators. We’ll have to see how they decide to implement it though.

All I could read about it on Twitter yesterday, was how Europe had just ban memes. As well as a few conspiracy theories on how Europe was doing this just so that big companies could rack in even more money. It’s a shame there are so much manipulatable ignorance floating around the social networks… but then again that’s true for every aspect of life, not just copyright directives.

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Yeah, the amount of brainwashed bs from people on twitter and on the streets was staggering. Scary to think how easily such masses are manipulated. You had literally people writing RIPinternet… on the internet.

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Not necessarily, especially if you sell or distribute your digital work via online marketplaces and platforms (like we do here on AJ).

The intention is that all online platforms (over 3 years old and/or have over 5M monthly visitors and over €10M yearly revenue) that allow user generated content to be uploaded, will be liable for copyright infringements, rather than the uploaders - as it has been for years.

As such, companies will be subject to first scanning all copyrighted material before it’s made available on the platform - much like YT’s ContentID. This is obviously to make sure no infringing material is being uploaded from the outset. This is very crudely explained in this post-Article13 vote interview with Alex Voss here.

This would include platforms such as Soundcloud, Bandcamp and presumably many royalty-free licensing sites. It’s extremely expensive to implement such technology however and there’s a fear that most platforms will simply geo-block all users from member states of the EU and smaller, independent platforms will be priced out anyway, as they simply cannot afford to conform to the intended laws.

The knock-on affect could be quite significant and potentially changes the royalty-free music landscape massively, for a number of reasons. A couple that come to mind - if sites like YouTube block EU member states from accessing their platform (consisting of over 500M citizens), then that would have a pretty big impact on the amount of uploaders and customers looking for RF music for their YouTube videos.

Also, there’s a big chance this would have a direct effect on AdRev registered composers. If EU member states can’t use or have limited access on the platform, then we should expect a significant drop in monetization revenue from that too - as there will be less viewers digesting ads.

The only way around all of this and avoid having to use costly upload filters, as advised by the Copyright Directive, is if the platform firstly licenses the material directly from the contributors / uploaders or have some kind of legal arrangement with them…Interestingly, this is exactly what Envato is already doing with it’s Elements contributors. :thinking:

All that said, everything is still up in the air and mostly based on wild speculation and tin-foil-hat opinions; whilst we know it’s implementation is in 2 years time and on a per member state basis, it’s still not clear on how any of this will be actually implemented, at least until it officially becomes law after Council has officially adopted it on April 9.

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Well, this goes deeper than one might think. With the internet digital goods got devalued more and more. Up to the point where you can mash up references of pop culture, movies and music together into a construct which has the boldness to call itself art or artistic. Just like namedropping. Wanna be cool? Just get yourself a Star Wars T-Shirt. There’s less and less art needed to call oneself artist. Remember when skateboarders did tricks which have been incredibly hard to learn? Nowadays, you just need a longboard.

I think the EUs decision to protect the rights of creative people is something that was long overdue and I think there will be some sort of an agreement between the parties. Geo blocking the EU is, in my opinion, highly unikely.

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I remember, i was one… :slight_smile:

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Hopefully you are right…
But I remember the recent text voted by the EU… the " VAT on digital services (MOSS scheme)" thing… it simply forced many small companies (some of them selling nice VSTs for us composers, by the way) to shut down their doors, because it was too complicated to follow these VATMOSS new rules.

On some other sites, if you were coming from the EU, you were simply… banned!!
Not a big deal, use a VPN… but…

EDIT: yes, I understand there is no real link between the two problems. But I remember, before this VATMOSS thing was really effective, people were afraid, and they were told “no, no problem, small businesses won’t be impacted, etc…” and the result was just death for them.

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I have to agree. That was a mess.

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Hey, it’s been a while!

You’re right, ultimately, how beneficial it will be for us, will depend on how it’s implemented and how the platforms decide to deal with it. It could go smoothly, but there’s always room to mess it up and for it to go wrong.

But in any case, protecting the rights of content creators was long overdue and is a good thing, in theory. As for how it will go down in practice, who knows. I choose to be optimistic on this one for a change.

The real issue is with small independent companies that may not have the means to comply.

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I certainly hope so. Google / YouTube have been running the narrative that they will indeed impose geo-blocking however. So for all our sakes, let’s just hope it’s just scaremongering…

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Maybe they are just pushing their luck. They once had to negotiate with the GEMA. But theoretically you are right, it could happen. This time however (compared to the VAT MOSS disaster), there are many more people affected who will get vocal.

I have to read more about this.

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Giving up a 500 million market would be quite a bold statement on their part.

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This is exactly right. Saw a guy on the tele yesterday who was against the new directive. The guy was playing Fortnite and streaming live on twitch. When asked why he opposed a legislation that protects creative assets and intellectual property, he actually said it, “I am a creator of intellectual property too.” Yea, right. So is my dog when it farts.

As for Youtube siginifcantly reducing content in the EU market… it won’t happen. But even if it did, by all means let them. This “we’re gonna do it illegally or not at all” attitude is simply ridiculous and cannot be accepted.

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Thanks for sharing your critical perspective. I guess it’s smart to read up a little on both sides of the coin. I don’t understand this part above, do Elements authors have a special license agreement in terms of Content ID?

I have seen at least one stock music site that have a system that makes sure content ID is already unclaimed when they buy the track. So I am guessing this could be the future for more stock music sites?

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Here, I was referring to the conditions of being an Elements contributor, in which Envato actually license the items from authors before making them available.

Aside from that, there is currently no direct arrangement between Envato and ContentID or its partners (ie. AdRev) that I’m personally aware of. AdRev for example, still require pdf licenses to be shown before copyright claims can be released.

However, I am aware that Envato’s direct subscription competitor (which I guess you’re referring to) that has created and implemented its own ID system. It seems that this particular library and YouTube have some kind of arrangement in place and have given access to its ContentID API - meaning that the library can directly clear claims themselves, without having to go through the usual claim clearance process.

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Haha. It sounds like Youtube recent propaganda :smiley: Can you imagine EU internet without Youtube? EU is too big market too block EU members. Why? EU is rich so their companies can theoretically start a new streaming service with a great copyright control and it would break Youtube-without-EU monopol. And YT will not let this happen so I believe Youtube will have to find a different walk-around.

In my opinion it’s a great news and it can only rise our stock income.

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We simply don’t yet know how this is going to play out, so probably best not to get our hopes up either way. We’ve got 2 years before this comes into play, so it’s a good opportunity to consider other options to earn a living from our creativity, as a back up and just in case things do go sour.

Regarding YT, you’re right that there’s been a lot of propaganda coming from the big tech’s side - simply because their business’ success depends heavily on the exploitation of copyrighted material.

But on the other side, there’s been an equal amount of spin from the ageing recording industry - publishers and collection agencies that probably feel they need to tighten their grip in a rapidly changing industry, where they are becoming less and less relevant.

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Imagine how many (big) corporations use embedded youtube videos on their websites. Social Media is very important for marketing, even for companies who are around for over than 100 years.

Scenario 1: Google will negotiate something like they did with the GEMA, to pay a fixed price which will be shared amongst creatives. Unlikely if you ask me.

Scenario 2: Google will geo block the EU users, maybe juste temporalily till there’s a deal. Risking tons of revenue and loosing the Europen Market. Users migrating to another platform? Possible. Others might get a smart workaround with a even smarter upload filter. But who’s smarter than google? Likely.

Scenario 3: Google will have 2 years to install an upload filter or renegotiate. Even if reviewers have to be hired, which doesn’t sound as drastic if you use an upload filter first and then reviewers, it’s not impossible to do. It will cost tough. Likely.

BTW. Wouldn’t an upload filter make Content ID obsolete?

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Of course EU members won’t be blocked. However, the impact of the new rules will be huge I think.
The intent of copyright protection is a good thing, but this way of trying to accomplish that is totally wrong. Platforms like Youtube will simply start shifting their liability to the content providers. For instance: YT will be liabel in the first place for copyright claims, but they will ask the uploader to guarantee he/she owns the copyright. And when not (if the filter is passed), they will come after you.
This wil become a big hassl and as a result there will be less content. Bigger costs for platforms because of the tech needed, but also bigger costs for content providers, because platforms will pass on those costs and because of the increased (shifted) responsibility. There wil be less content needed, less exposure, lower sales. For the stock markets I’m afraid no positive news (in the EU). And I’m afraid the use of all the CC content (photo’s, video) will become a hassl too.

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ContentID is obviously an upload filter in itself, and arguably the best detection system out there, as it’s now owned and developed by Google.

The problem is that it’s still not 100% accurate - and therein lies the problem: If any unlicensed, unauthorised copyrighted material slips through, YouTube - or any platform that utilises it via license - will be held directly responsible and will have to pay the penalty and deal with any ensuing legal battles and compensations (hence their opposition to the Directive).

The Directive says that everything must be licensed and/or pre-cleared before being made available for public consumption, in order to protect the copyrights of the original creator. It’s pretty drastic stuff really and just hits home how easy people have had it online, until now.

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