CISAC, the global umbrella group that represents 225 CMOs, PROs, and other copyright and collection societies around the world, released its annual report on Wednesday, May 22 2024. Here are our key takeaways:
AI as the top priority
AI is unsurprisingly CISAC’s “top priority” in 2024.
The report begins with CISAC President Björn Ulvaeus detailing a speech he gave at the General Assemly in Mexico last year. “Our message was that AI will bring the biggest revolution the creative sector has seen. To prepare, we must act now.”
“Our message was that AI will bring the biggest revolution the creative sector has seen. To prepare, we must act now.”
Björn Ulvaeus, CISAC
Since then, he explains, CISAC has been working with regulators and world leaders to ensure the protection of the rights and the livelihoods of the millions of creators it represents.
Their arguments have been built around three core principles:
- Authorisation: creators must have the right to license the use of their works by AI tools.
- Remuneration: creators must be paid for such uses.
- Transparency: AI providers must be obliged to inform on the training of copyrighted works.
One big win for creators in this area is the EU’s AI Act, explains the report, though it also highlights the long road ahead in lobbying on behalf of its members.
“Its provisions on transparency are a welcome step that can serve as a model for other territories”, says Ulvaeus. “There will be a lot more legislative activity in the coming months, with CISAC and its global network uniquely placed to lead the campaign”.
Licencing and remuneration schemes for AI development are also “an urgent priority for CISAC and its membership in 2024”, says the report.
Digital becomes the largest revenue source
CISAC’s Global Collections Report, published in October 2023, states that music collections – the largest source of revenue among its members – grew a record 28% YoY to €10.8bn in 2022.
Source: CISAC (2024)
It was also the first year that digital became the largest source of revenue for creators, driven by the growth of digital streaming services and new or renewed licensing deals.
However, as the report also details, many CISAC members and the creators they represent are not experiencing increased digital royalties and believe their works are being undervalued in the market.
While digital collections may be hitting record levels, explains Marcelo Castello Branco, Chair of the CISAC Board, the threat of generative AI to creators’ livelihoods and human artistry continues to loom. “We must relentlessly prepare for the unprecedented challenges ahead – and, above all… for the implications of generative AI,” he says.
Key international developments
Japan’s struggle against AI
In a blow to the creative community, Japan last year made the decision not to enforce copyright law on material used to train generative AI models.
As the report explains, this “has been assessed as having a harmful impact on creators” and CISAC has been supporting Japan’s Society for Rights of Authors, Composers and Publishers (JASRAC) in its struggle to change the Japanese government’s policies on AI.
Copyright and licensing issues in China
The report calls China one of the “top priorities” of CISAC’s work on market development.
Despite witnessing “spectacular collections growth”, the market is incredibly challenged with regards to digital collections. “Revenue growth stalled in 2023 as digital income fell sharply due to the lack of licensing agreements with major DSPs including Tencent and NetEase”, it explains.
CISAC is working for growth and a strong copyright framework in China and is supporting member music society Music Copyright Society of China (MCSC) in pushing for licensing agreements with digital services, which have not been renewed since 2021.
South Africa’s flawed copyright bill
As the report explains, CISAC is backing South Africa’s CMOs in their fight against a flawed copyright bill.
Despite widespread protests, the Copyright Amendment Bill – the first reform of the country’s copyright laws in 50 years – was adopted by the National Assembly in February 2024.
The Copyright Coalition (CCSA) campaign, led by SAMRO, remains focused on persuading the South African President against signing the Bill.
CISAC and the local campaign have outlined the Bill’s three key failings as “an excessive focus on exceptions opening up many new users for which creators will no longer have the right to earn royalties”, “a clumsy ‘fair use’ exception that will lead to uncertainty and burdensome litigation”, and “inconsistency with international best practice in copyright law.”
Data developments drive growth
CISAC also plays an integral role in data standardization and has been on a mission to improve data quality and the use of identifiers to drive more efficient remuneration.
One big step forward here is the completed transfer of CIS-Net, the tool which underpins members’ global data exchanges, from FastTrack to CISAC in 2023.
According to the report, this puts the global systems under CISAC’s control for the first time. “This places us in a position to draw up a roadmap towards the future, to respond to members’ business needs in the years ahead”, says CISAC Director General Gadi Oron.
Source: CISAC (2024)
Adoption of the ISWC is also expanding across the music value chain, the report explains. “While adoption grows among societies and publishers, the next stage involves enabling use of the ISWC by third parties including DSPs and tech companies.”
CISAC is also encouraging ISWCs to be better aligned with ISRCs and for the identifier to be issued at the point of release of a song. “Bringing together the ISWC and ISRC at the point of release of a song has a huge potential for creators and rights holders and would be a giant leap forward for the industry, as a whole”, it says.
“Bringing together the ISWC and ISRC at the point of release of a song has a huge potential for creators and rights holders and would be a giant leap forward for the industry, as a whole”.
CISAC
As the report outlines, CISAC is working in collaboration with several societies to make this happen, including UK society PRS which has worked with CISAC to launch a ‘proof of concept’ project which “aims to give music uploaders a simplified way to include an ISWC, alongside the existing data they already provide to streaming services”.
“After the success of the project”, the report explains, “CISAC is now implementing the service in the ISWC system, involving several societies, publishers and labels.”
The report outlines three key targets for the ISWC:
- CISAC societies create ISWCs and retrieve existing codes in bulk.
- Publishers create ISWCs before registering works and retrieve it for back catalogue.
- DSPs and tech companies retrieve ISWCs and metadata in bulk.
