0:00:02.420,0:00:04.490 Thank you, thank you very much. 0:00:04.490,0:00:06.490 Hum, is this volume ok ? Can people hear me ? 0:00:07.040,0:00:09.040 Thank you very much for the kind introduction 0:00:09.090,0:00:12.440 and thank you also for inviting me to speak to you today 0:00:13.040,0:00:15.860 This event is called "Sound copyright, 0:00:16.240,0:00:18.210 which way for the E.U. ?" 0:00:18.510,0:00:21.460 And I believe that's a very apt title. 0:00:21.810,0:00:25.410 Because I feel that the E.U. and the parliament in particular 0:00:25.760,0:00:30.210 is at a crossroad with this directive, the term extension directive, 0:00:30.980,0:00:34.850 and I hope that through the course of this morning 0:00:35.400,0:00:37.830 we will find the right way to go. 0:00:38.950,0:00:41.600 On one side we have a story 0:00:42.030,0:00:47.450 about the poor performer, the performer who had come to the end of his life 0:00:47.750,0:00:52.970 and his copyright expires, he can no longer fund himself, he's in penury. 0:00:53.150,0:00:54.550 We know this story. 0:00:54.720,0:00:59.240 The European Commission put forward a piece of legislation to help him 0:00:59.620,0:01:03.890 and it's one of a number of legislative initiatives being crafted by the Commission 0:01:04.040,0:01:06.490 around copyright in the digital age. 0:01:06.710,0:01:07.940 That's one side. 0:01:08.960,0:01:13.260 On the other side, we have mounting unrest 0:01:13.390,0:01:17.580 among ordinary citizens about this piece of legislation. 0:01:18.060,0:01:21.660 I wonder if those in this room would like to indicate to me whether they have seen 0:01:21.730,0:01:24.130 the video produced by the Open Rights group 0:01:24.130,0:01:26.630 "How copyright terms extension really works" 0:01:27.130,0:01:30.030 perhaps hands are only put up for voting in this institution 0:01:30.030,0:01:32.000 but if you've seen it, please raise your hand. 0:01:32.650,0:01:37.700 You are ones of twenty thousands people who have viewed that video 0:01:37.800,0:01:41.020 and several people have translated it voluntarily 0:01:41.420,0:01:43.320 into their native languages 0:01:43.900,0:01:49.550 so that they could spread the word about concerns over this directive, further. 0:01:49.970,0:01:56.570 Fifteen thousands European citizens have signed our position asking MEPs to reject this directive. 0:01:56.570,0:01:58.520 And I'm reliably informed 0:01:58.740,0:02:03.640 that telephones here in Brussels have been buzzing with constituents asking their representatives 0:02:03.810,0:02:07.940 to attend this event and to vote against the extension of copyright term 0:02:07.940,0:02:10.660 when it comes to plenary later this year. 0:02:10.660,0:02:12.040 Could you give the web of that video ? 0:02:12.040,0:02:19.530 I can... Well, if you go to soundcopyright.eu you'll find a link to it there. 0:02:19.530,0:02:21.260 You'll be able to watch it from there. 0:02:22.810,0:02:27.600 And I think the popularity of this event only goes to show 0:02:27.650,0:02:29.580 how contentious this directive is. 0:02:30.130,0:02:34.350 The question we're here to answer today is how should MEPs react ? 0:02:34.900,0:02:40.800 Which signpost should they follow, and which way should they go ? 0:02:41.520,0:02:44.920 Well, let's start with the fairy story. 0:02:45.620,0:02:47.920 It centers on a poor performer who 0:02:47.920,0:02:51.470 having played guitar on a track in the 1960's 0:02:51.820,0:02:54.190 and having collected royalties on that track 0:02:54.440,0:02:59.910 for nearly fifty years, is about to see those royalties cease and his copyright expires. 0:02:59.910,0:03:04.990 This performer will as a consequence, we're told, become even poorer than he already his. 0:03:04.990,0:03:08.280 He will loose his main source of income, we are told 0:03:08.630,0:03:13.160 at the very time in his life, we are told, that he needs it most. 0:03:13.510,0:03:16.660 As you will agree it is a simple story. 0:03:17.130,0:03:22.600 And it looks simple enough for MEPs to give it a happy ending. 0:03:23.400,0:03:27.530 But, like many simple stories 0:03:27.530,0:03:29.920 it leaves a lot of open questions. 0:03:30.370,0:03:34.370 What has this poor performer been doing for the last fifty years ? 0:03:34.770,0:03:36.400 Has he remained a performer ? 0:03:36.400,0:03:42.770 In which case will the royalties from his recent songs continue to deliver him an income ? 0:03:43.670,0:03:46.070 Jimmy Page was considered young 0:03:46.090,0:03:49.920 when he did his first session work for Decca Records in the early sixties. 0:03:51.140,0:03:56.290 When his first performer copyright expires, he'll already be nearly seventy. 0:03:57.160,0:04:00.710 Is our fairy tale performer, unlike Jimmy Page 0:04:00.710,0:04:05.180 a poor performer because nobody bought his records, at the time 0:04:05.560,0:04:10.710 in which case why would give him another forty five years for no one to buy his records 0:04:10.710,0:04:12.710 make him any richer ? 0:04:13.480,0:04:16.930 Or has he, like our former prime minister Tony Blair 0:04:16.930,0:04:19.900 given up his dreams of rock star for another career ? 0:04:21.550,0:04:23.530 and whether he was successful or not 0:04:23.530,0:04:27.100 and whether he remained a performer or whether he chose a different path 0:04:27.100,0:04:32.650 has he, like the rest of us, not put a proportion of his income aside during his working life 0:04:32.920,0:04:37.470 in order that he might be able to provide for himself in his old age. 0:04:38.290,0:04:40.440 Like "Jack and the Beanstalk" 0:04:41.240,0:04:46.040 "Cinderella", "Rapunzel", and all the other famous fairy tales of Europe 0:04:46.340,0:04:51.410 this story of the poor performer doesn't really stand up to scrutiny. 0:04:51.810,0:04:55.160 So why are MEPs being told it ? 0:04:56.490,0:05:02.310 Ladies and gentlemen, I put it to you that the reason you are being told fairy tales 0:05:03.280,0:05:06.210 is because if you were being told the real story 0:05:06.210,0:05:10.980 you would reject the term extension without questions. 0:05:11.730,0:05:16.650 As you will hear from the various speakers that are addressing this group this morning 0:05:16.900,0:05:22.670 all the evidence shows that the term extension directive will do very little 0:05:22.670,0:05:25.920 almost nothing to help poor performers 0:05:26.250,0:05:32.820 and everything to line the pockets of the world's four major record labels. 0:05:33.320,0:05:36.470 I often wonder if we should call them the brothers Grim 0:05:36.590,0:05:40.220 since they are the ones that have been telling you the fairy stories 0:05:41.390,0:05:45.610 the average European performer will make as little as fifty cents 0:05:46.140,0:05:51.710 fifty eurocents a year in additional income from sales associated with the term extension 0:05:51.960,0:05:55.560 And if the session [...] fund the commission proposal 0:05:55.560,0:06:01.510 does not get followed up by the administrative costs of the labels and collective societies they administrate 0:06:01.510,0:06:02.730 because let's face it 0:06:02.730,0:06:06.330 tracking down a violinist who worked for you fifty years ago 0:06:06.350,0:06:08.950 will be a pretty time consuming and expensive experience 0:06:09.250,0:06:12.900 that figure may rise to as much as twenty six euros per year. 0:06:13.130,0:06:17.320 But I'm sure you'll all agree with me, that is no pension. 0:06:17.820,0:06:22.620 Now that just sales revenue, what about revenues artists receive from broadcasters 0:06:22.620,0:06:28.020 from levies on devices, or from licenses paid by hair dressers, public gyms, or restaurants ? 0:06:28.970,0:06:31.620 In fact as the commission has been forced to admit 0:06:31.620,0:06:33.840 after the Open Rights group pointed that to them 0:06:34.120,0:06:37.440 these revenues streams are likely to decrease for living artists 0:06:37.710,0:06:40.460 if the term extension directive goes ahead. 0:06:41.090,0:06:45.240 Why ? Because the income that would otherwise be going to young artists 0:06:45.240,0:06:46.940 at the begining of their careers 0:06:46.940,0:06:50.810 will be going to the estates of dead performers. 0:06:51.730,0:06:53.460 So who really benefits ? 0:06:54.460,0:06:56.230 Not consumers 0:06:56.660,0:07:00.700 the people I represent, they will be the ones ultimately paying for it 0:07:00.700,0:07:06.880 to the tune of up to four hundred and eighty million pounds in the UK alone 0:07:06.880,0:07:10.500 according to independent studies commissioned for the United States government. 0:07:11.650,0:07:15.600 No, it will be the record labels. Our Brothers Grim. 0:07:16.120,0:07:21.940 And because these benefits will only accrue to those record labels with large back catalogs 0:07:22.390,0:07:26.170 it will be the World's four major record labels. 0:07:26.340,0:07:31.270 And they will each gain, up to four million euros each year. 0:07:32.590,0:07:35.960 Our speakers this morning will go into further details about the evidence 0:07:36.240,0:07:40.090 evidences from all of Europe's major intellectual property research centers 0:07:40.210,0:07:45.730 from the World's most lauded economists and from the coalface of the European music industry 0:07:46.230,0:07:52.580 they will try to explain to you why Ben [Hugenhelf] an adviser to DG Internal Market on exactly this subject 0:07:52.580,0:07:59.000 has himself suggested that the term extension directive is an deliberate attempt to mislead MEPs. 0:07:59.800,0:08:03.080 What I'd like to focus on in the remainder of this talk is why you should care. 0:08:03.950,0:08:07.300 Why you should care that this directive will do nothing to help performers 0:08:07.700,0:08:10.750 and will line the pockets of global media giants 0:08:11.120,0:08:13.220 at the expense of your voters 0:08:14.720,0:08:19.720 You should care because European citizens don't like fairy tales 0:08:20.590,0:08:26.020 more specifically, your voters don't like to think that their elected representatives 0:08:26.270,0:08:29.240 make law on the basis of fairy tales 0:08:29.960,0:08:34.490 and Europe's citizens are pretty angry about the term extension directive. 0:08:35.210,0:08:38.330 I'd like to read you just a selection of the comments that have been left 0:08:38.330,0:08:42.080 by pepole underneath our videos which like [...] url for earlier 0:08:42.080,0:08:46.960 which incidentally was the eleventh most popular UK political video on YouTube last week 0:08:47.110,0:08:50.430 and I remind you that last week was the week that Obama got inaugurated 0:08:51.950,0:08:53.550 Here is just some of the comments 0:08:54.900,0:08:59.350 "Charlie McCreevy has to go. The proposal of the Commission is a huge scandal!" 0:09:00.120,0:09:01.220 another comment 0:09:01.420,0:09:07.370 "The proposal smells of an industry in terminal decline catching at straws. It does nothing for struggling artists." 0:09:07.570,0:09:10.070 "Its a pity the E.U. has fallen for it." 0:09:11.070,0:09:12.320 A third comment 0:09:13.370,0:09:18.140 "The public will be even surer if this passes, exactly who it is supposed to benefit." 0:09:18.540,0:09:21.720 "That's largely why we don't care about respecting copyright anymore." 0:09:23.540,0:09:25.710 That last quote bear some examining. 0:09:26.460,0:09:31.290 At the moment in the UK alone, it is estimated that around 6 million citizens 0:09:31.490,0:09:37.030 are infringing copyrights by engaging in illicit filesharing across P2P networks. 0:09:38.110,0:09:41.760 Legislators, industry and consumer organizations 0:09:41.880,0:09:45.100 have a big job ahead of them if they are going to change this 0:09:45.530,0:09:48.980 and it's not just about making new laws. 0:09:49.400,0:09:54.750 We have to make sure that the legal framework is something that ordinary citizens can understand 0:09:55.050,0:09:58.120 and can understand why they need to respect it. 0:09:59.170,0:10:01.570 Every European benefits from copyright 0:10:01.700,0:10:05.220 when copyright allows and encourages musicians to make great music 0:10:05.870,0:10:07.670 And that's what copyright does. 0:10:08.120,0:10:13.690 By protecting artists from people profiting from their creativity without giving them anything back 0:10:14.070,0:10:17.020 We encourage them to share their talents with the world. 0:10:17.290,0:10:19.860 To inspire us, and to change us. 0:10:21.410,0:10:25.240 But law that is based on fairy tales, that doesn't win anyone over 0:10:25.290,0:10:28.230 except, perhaps, the Brothers Grim 0:10:28.810,0:10:33.880 is not law that ordinary European citizens can respect. 0:10:34.910,0:10:40.950 Passing the term extension directive will only diminish the average European respect for copyright law 0:10:42.080,0:10:46.700 and that will make the real problems facing the copyright [a key] in the digital age worse. 0:10:47.250,0:10:48.730 Far worse. 0:10:50.100,0:10:56.220 Ladies and gentlemen, I put it to you that the term extension directive is not a charming prince on horseback 0:10:56.500,0:10:58.970 rushing to the aid of poor performers... 0:10:59.770,0:11:04.090 I put it to you that the term extension directive is a frog. 0:11:04.890,0:11:09.590 It is a slimy, sleazy frog and it is a frog that lies 0:11:10.070,0:11:12.840 and European citizens know it is a frog. 0:11:14.160,0:11:17.560 And I put it to you further that you cannot kiss this frog 0:11:17.910,0:11:22.010 with amendments, this frog directive with amendments and turn it into a prince. 0:11:22.510,0:11:24.380 That's just another fairy tale. 0:11:25.760,0:11:32.780 Copyrights give artists a tool, a tool to negotiate 0:11:32.880,0:11:38.030 in the market place. But it doesn't change a market place full of sharks 0:11:39.150,0:11:46.370 and it shouldn't be a poor instrument to give artists in order to protect their rights. 0:11:46.370,0:11:50.800 There are far better things that the European parliament could be doing to protect performers. 0:11:52.400,0:11:55.700 So please don't try and kiss this frog directive to turn it into a prince 0:11:55.850,0:12:00.670 Please, for the sake of Europe's consumers, for the sake of the knowledge economy 0:12:00.970,0:12:05.370 reject the fairy tales and reject the term extension directive, thank you very much. 0:12:11.610,0:12:22.380 Thank you very much, Becky. I think we have, we have gotten right into the heat of the debate...