Composers and Songwriters from all over Europe, the US and Zimbabwe met in Brussels on February 2nd – 3rd for celebrating the 2nd edition of the Creators Conference.
Let’s start with music!
Prior to the official commencement ECSA organized a concert introducing Coro Grabriel (Sardinia), Alpha (Denmark), Klaus Risager (Denmark), Hush (Denmark) and Jean-Michel Bernard (France). Furthermore, a delegation of the Songwriters Guild of America (Rick Carnes, Janis Carnes, Janie Ross Coulter, Charlie Sanders) met with ECSA representatives (Alfons Karabuda, Patrick Ager) and discussed the setting up of an intensified cross Atlantic collaboration and a network of authors for addressing common industry constraints.
The Creators Conference gathered composers and songwriters, industry lobby groups and policy makers and included key-note speeches of Paul Brickhill (Harare Book Café, Zimbabwe), Robert Levine (Journalist and author, Berlin), Maria-Martin Prat (European Commission) and John Groves (composer).
ECSA finally also held its Annual General Assembly in the framework of the Creators Conference. Top on the agenda were updates on ECSA’s actions against coercive practices in the commissioning on music, GRD and IMR developments and internal issues such as budget and enhancing the effectiveness of the ECSA. The next ECSA meeting will take place on October 7th and 8th in Reykjavík, Iceland.
For further information on the Creators Conference please click here.

Register now! A conference on music, creativity and authors’ rights. Welcome!
www.creatorsconference.org

The Slovenian Society of Composers (DSS) hosted in collaboration with the Music Academy of Ljubljana the annual meeting of ECSA’s member ECF (European Composers’ Forum). The meeting was accompanied by a series of round table discussions, concerts and workshops. At the centre of debate were the awaited upcoming legislative proposals from the European Commission regarding collective management of authors’ rights and the representation of composers in Europe. It was stressed that any legislative proposal must take the views of creators into account, such as the necessity to maintain the exclusive assignment (of the performing rights) to collective societies.
The event hosted also a workshop focusing on education of composing and music in schools, as well as three seminaries with children in the classroom. Furthermore, David Stoll (UK), Peter Sachsenheimer (Austria) and Helmut Erdmann (Germany), discussed under the title “Composers Factory” different approaches to the idea of integrating best practices for creative musical work in schools and in education in general.
For further information, please contact the Slovenian Society of Composers (www.dss.si)
Photo: Zeljko Stevanic

Ciudad de la Luz Director José Antonio Escrivá with ECSA officials

Delegations of composers and songwriters around Europe gathered on October 3rd and 4th in Alicante, Spain. The meetings included sessions of FFACE, APCOE and ECF, as well as of ECSA’s coercion working group and ECSA’s autumn general assembly. Watch out for further information soon.

ECSA Secretary General Patrick Ager addressing FIMU audience
Copyright: FIMU Vienna/Julia Wesely

„My voice in Europe“ was the title of a podium discussion on September 20th in the framework of the International Film Music Symposium in Vienna, Austria. Austrian composer Paul Hertel and ECSA Secretary General Patrick Ager discussed how composers and songwriters can best defend their interest on national and European level. The discussion was moderated by Fritz Niemann, project manager of EU XXL and ECSA.
For further information: www.fimuvienna.com

Following a decision taken at the General Assembly last February in Brussels, the next ECSA session will take place in Alicante, Spain on October 3rd. Among other issues the agenda will include updates on ECSA’s Brussels activities and recent GRD developments.

Monday 3rd October, Portamaris hotel:
10am – APCOE, ECF, FFACE meetings
3pm – ECSA session

Tuesday 4th October, Portamaris hotel:
10am – Coercion Working Group

Following a decision taken at the General Assembly last February in Brussels, the next ECSA session will take place in Alicante, Spain on October 3^rd. Among other issues the agenda will include updates on ECSA’s Brussels activities and recent GRD developments. Background material and further information on the meeting location will be sent out in due time.

ECSA delegate Jean-Marie Moreau came to Brussels on July 12^th to meet Françoise Castex, member of the European Parliament’s Socialists & Democrats Group since 2004. ECSA Secretary General Patrick Ager participated in the meeting as well.

Jean-Marie Moreau, who wrote hits for François Feldmann, Alain Delon and many others, received assurances from Ms. Castex that she considers that authors’ rights are indispensable to assure a return of value to creators. Talking about authors’ rights and new technologies, Mr. Moreau pointed out that it is crucial to have a legal framework and safety net to allow authors to create.  Whilst it was acknowledged that authors may decide, and have the absolute right, to make their music available for free on the internet, third parties should not be entitled to take this decision for their own purposes. Finally, Jean Marie Moreau also pointed out that for the vast majority of songwriters and composers, who did not became international megastars it was only through the collective that they have a chance to bargain equally within a commercial environment. The role of their collective rights societies is therefore crucial and indispensable.

Both Francoise Castex and Jean-Marie Moreau agreed to stay in contact.

On the initiative of the Slovak Instiute in Vienna, currently presiding the EUNIC Vienna Cluster, a concert entitled Long Night of European Music took place in Vienna’s famous Museums’ Quartier on June 21st. The concert was co-organized by ECSA’s member network of contemporary music composers, the European Composers’ Forum and the Vienna Cluster of EUNIC.
The event included premieres with the European Contemporary Composers’ Orchestra under Jürgen Bruns (GER) – with works by H. Heher (AUT), T. Räisänen (FIN), A. Giorgobiani (GEO), S. Azevedo (POR), C. Sojar Voglar (SLO) und L’. Cekovská (SVK). Innovative and experimental sounds are contributed by J.-C. Risset (FRA), A. Eliasson (SWE), and D. Torkewitz (DE). Each composition was accompanied by a literary piece selected and presented by the Mercedes Echerer.
The concert proved to be an exciting journey through the diverse world of European musicianship, particularly of the younger generation of European composers.

On 16th and 17th of June the Digital Agenda Assembly took place in Brussels. Opening the plenary, Neelie Kroes, Vice-President of the European Commission responsible for the Digital Agenda marked out the significance of new technologies in a modern life. Ms Kroes called decision-makers to “start seeing and using Internet Communication Technologies (ICTs) as an essential engine for our economy – not as an optional extra” and requested for a dialogue with stakeholders.
The Assembly consisted of different workshops and plenary sessions. One of the workshops was entitled “ICT and management of creative content”. It focused on challenges and vision of the intellectual property management in the digital environment, economic growth and the development of new business models in the creative industries.
Workshop panelists were among others MEP Cecilia Wikström and Director General DG INFSO Robert Madelin, as well as representatives from EMI Music Publishing, Newspaper Licensing Agency, Movie Lab, UGC, RTL, IFRRO, Amazon, BBC, Google.