CISAC wraps up successful General Assembly meeting in Brussels, Belgium

04 June 2015

A huge turnout of creators and CISAC members attends the annual General Assembly in Brussels today

It has been a year of change and of great achievements at CISAC.
This was the resounding message that CISAC member societies took away from today's 2015 General Assembly held in Brussels, Belgium.

With a new structure, bold strategy and renewed energy, the CISAC Secretariat is working in full force to support its members and four million creators it represents around the world.

Opening of CISAC's 2015 General Assembly

CISAC President and electronic music composer, Jean Michel Jarre kicked-off the meeting, delivering a passionate speech on CISAC's ongoing commitment to "make a difference" amid a challenging climate of copyright reform.

"“The last year was an amazing ride” Jarre told the audience. We took the message of creators to WIPO in Geneva, to the UN in New York, to the European Parliament in Brussels. We took it to numerous places around the world where creator’s voices need to be heard,” he told the audience.

"Companies are building businesses, empires and fortunes, with the use of our creative output. And what do we get in return?

"Far too often, only crumbs from the banquet.”

Jarre highlighted the many challenges that creators face today, as the intellectual property legal framework and the system of collective management of rights continues to come under attack in many countries, including in Europe - the birthplace of copyright.
During his address, he also pointed to the fundamentals of authors’ rights protection, reminding audience members that the 'Universal Declaration of Human Rights,' adopted by the United Nations’ General Assembly in 1948, states that:

"Everyone has the right to the protection of the moral and material interests resulting from any scientific, literary or artistic production of which he is the author."

“These words were carefully crafted more than 75 years ago,” Jarre said.
 “I still find them completely and absolutely relevant today. The Declaration contains everything that we stand for here. It is about authors, and it talks about moral and material interests, the two values that we constantly attach to our creations. It also expresses more than anything that creators' rights are human rights.”

Jarre then outlined CISAC’s multipronged actions across all geographic regions and artistic repertoires in the fight for fairness:

“Our work has spread across all regions, all repertoires, and with the active participation of creators from all over the creative community,” he said.

At the close of his opening statement, Jarre received a huge round of applause.

Read Jean Michel Jarre's speech. 

    

The opening address continued with CISAC Board of Directors (BOD) Chairman Eric Baptiste outlining the new dynamic of the Confederation and CISAC Director General Gadi Oron who highlighted the importance of creativity for humankind.

Source: cisac.org