Who doesn’t like to start their Friday by considering the ins and outs of Belgium’s implementation of European copyright legislation, eh? We are here to serve, as ever.
This is a complicated but important story, in all seriousness. It relates to the EU’s 2019 copyright directive, which was broadly welcomed by the music industry. However, each of the EU’s member states then got to implement the legislation, including their own changes.
Belgium made a big one. It introduced a “non-waiverable remuneration right” to be paid by streaming services and distributed by collecting societies to artists.
Umbrella featured-artists body IAO welcomed it at the time, pointing to existing examples of such a right in Spain, Hungary and Slovakia. However, it was not in the original copyright directive, and labels have been fighting the Belgian implementation ever since, lodging a constitutional challenge against it.
Now there’s some news. The case has been referred by the Belgian constitutional court to the European Court of Justice. Indie labels collective Impala and Belgian body BIMA both announced the news with strong approval.
(Impala pointed to this 2022 piece summarising its opposition, which is a good primer on why labels are unhappy with the new remuneration right.)
“We believe the Belgian court is right to make a referral to the European court of justice. We welcome this outcome and will be examining the judgement closely,” said Impala’s Helen Smith.
“The problematic provisions of the Belgian law reflect a backward-looking approach, limiting the freedom of artists to decide with whom and how to cooperate, which contrasts sharply with other countries which have remained faithful to the spirit of European legislation,” added Geert de Blaere, president of Belgian independents body BIMA.
Global labels body the IFPI has also responded to the news.
“We welcome the Belgian Constitutional Court’s decision to ask the opinion of the Court of Justice of the European Union,” said its spokesperson. “The contested provisions would ultimately make Belgian artists worse off and disrupt the operation of the EU Digital Single Market.”
Yes, other views are available. CMO PlayRight, for example, will surely be giving its views imminently. It was a strong backer of the Belgian remuneration right, and in July this year its president Christian Martin said “we regret the current delay caused by a coalition of music producers and online platforms disputing these rights before the Constitutional Court”.
Does this matter outside Belgium? Yes it does. This is an important test case for what might happen in larger markets if governments see additional remuneration rights for streaming as a road they want to go down.
The European court’s ruling will thus be keenly awaited. That said, it could be 2-3 years before that ruling comes, so don’t hold your breath.
