CISAC announces the fourth biennial World Creators Summit “Create ● Connect ● Respect” on June 4 & 5, 2013, in Washington, DC (USA)

12.10.2012





CISAC (the International Confederation of Societies of Authors and Composers) announces the fourth biennial World Creators Summit - Create, Connect, Respect, which will be held June 4-5, 2013, in Washington, DC, at the Ronald Reagan Center.

Formerly known as the World Copyright Summit, this conference is the leading international and cross-industry forum addressing the future of the creative community and the entertainment business in the digital economy. Now in its fourth edition, this biennial event brings together the world’s most prominent creative artists, government officials, and industry leaders to exchange views on the value of creative works, the future of copyright, the role of creators, and the collective management of authors’ rights. While issues of copyright are always central to a discussion about the economic and moral value of a creative work, the event’s new name expresses the expanded focus on the creator.

“We are so pleased to return to the United States and to Washington, DC with the World Creators Summit,” said Hervé Di Rosa, French visual artist and CISAC Acting President. “Since we began hosting these biennial events in 2007, we have always emphasized the creators of art, whether music, drama, literature, audiovisual, photography, or visual arts. The change to the event name makes clear the emphasis on creators, whose work is the foundation of creative industries.”

The purpose of the Summit is to establish a constructive dialogue, exchange ideas, debate diverse viewpoints and discuss solutions linked to intellectual property and creative content online with all the stakeholders in the new digital economy – from creators, rights organizations and guilds, to content service providers, broadcasters, telecommunications operators, hardware manufacturers, legal experts and policy-makers.

The Summit’s slogan, “Create – Connect – Respect,” encapsulates the event’s vision of a fair and sustainable environment for the creative sector.

“Copyright is at the core of any discussion on creative activity and creators’ ability to thrive in the digital era,” said Olivier Hinnewinkel, Director General of CISAC. “The rapid changes in the market have had a huge impact on today’s copyright debates. The World Creators Summit brings together the top minds and decision makers from all copyright areas to engage in these debates and discuss how our changing market impacts on creators’ ability to earn a livelihood from their creation. With so much change in the air, from the U.S. Presidential election to the rise of cloud services, we are looking forward to some fascinating and thought provoking discussions”

The last Summit was held June 7-8, 2011, in Brussels and brought together over 730 participants from around the world, with 57 countries represented. Over 130 speakers took the stage, including:

-         Javed Akhtar, Indian scriptwriter, poet and lyricist
-         Carlo d’Asaro Biondo, Google Vice President for Southern and Eastern Europe, MEA
-         Michel Barnier, European Commissioner, Internal Market & Services
-         Victoria Espinel, White House Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator
-         Robin Gibb, legendary singer and songwriter of the Bee Gees and CISAC former President
-         Francis Gurry, WIPO Director General (World Intellectual Property Organization)
-         Jean-Michel Jarre, French author, composer and performer
-         Ivo Josipović, President of Croatia and music composer
-         Neelie Kroes, Vice President of the European Commission and European Commissioner for Digital Agenda
-         Robert Levine, author of “Free Ride – How Digital Parasites are Destroying the Culture Business, and How the Culture Business Can Fight Back”
-         Arnaud Nourry, Hachette Livre Chairman and CEO
-         Jean-Paul Philippot, RTBF Administrator General, and European Broadcasting Union President (EBU/UER)
-         Hervé Di Rosa, French visual artist and CISAC Acting President
-         Frank Stella, US painter and sculptor / CIAGP Chair (International Council of Creators of Graphic, Plastic and Photographic Arts)
An even larger audience is expected in Washington, DC in 2013 with delegates from all around the world, especially from North & Latin America, Europe and Asia. A complete recap of the 2011 event, with video and photos, can be found online.
CISAC is the leading worldwide network of collective management organizations and a unique international NGO uniting 231 authors’ societies and guilds in 121 countries, thus representing over 3 million creators and publishers from all creative genres (music, film, visual arts and literary). In 2010, worldwide royalties collected by CISAC members on behalf of creators reached €7.5 billion ($9.6 billion).
All ten CISAC member societies in the United States are part of the 2013 Summit Advisory Committee and strongly support the event:

• Audio-visual: DGA, Directors Guild of America; WGA, Writers Guild of America
• Music repertoire: AMRA, America’s Mechanical Rights Society; ASCAP, American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers; BMI, Broadcast Music Inc.; NMPA, National Music Publishers Association; SESAC, performing rights organisation
• Literary: The Author’s Registry
• Visual arts: ARS, Artists Rights Society; VAGA, Visual Artists and Galleries Association

Source: CISAC