Summary Report of the targeted consultation on the exercise of rights of performers and producers in the audiovisual sector

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Objective of the targeted consultation

Who replied to the targeted consultation?

Figure 1 shows that the overwhelming majority of contributions (200 responses) came from Germany, most of them from audiovisual performers or their representative organisations. The number of contributions from other Member States ranged from 1 to maximum 18 contributions for Belgium. The figures also show that there were no contributions from the following EU Member States: Croatia, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta and Romania. Furthermore, there were four contributions from non-EU countries.
 
Figure 2 shows that, among the respondents, 242 replied as audiovisual performers or as their representative organisations, 34 replied as audiovisual producers, distributors, sales agents or as their representative organisations, 19 replied as providers of audiovisual content (broadcasters, video-on-demand platforms, cultural heritage institutions) or as their representative organisations and 18 replied as others. Respondents could contribute under several categories (audiovisual performers; audiovisual producers, distributors, sales agents; providers of audiovisual content; other).

Preliminary trends observed in the targeted consultation

• The vast majority of audiovisual performers who replied to the targeted consultation are in an employment relationship with audiovisual producers, which is linked to the execution of their performances. Audiovisual performers who replied indicated that their rights are generally transferred through an employment contract or through a combination of a contract of transfer of rights and employment contract. A slight majority of them consider that only a small proportion of audiovisual works in which they have performed are still exploited after 50 years, while others reported that part of the films in which they have performed are still exploited after 50 years. 
• Producers of audiovisual content who replied reported that the number of right holders involved in a movie vary greatly depending on the type of film. Most of the producers obtain rights from authors and performers through contracts of transfers of rights while others mentioned that they also benefit from legal presumptions. They generally reported that their films generate most revenues during the first 5-10 years of exploitation and cease to generate significant revenues after 20 years.
• Providers of audiovisual content (such as broadcasters or online platforms) explained that their offers include different types of audiovisual content (old or more recent films for example) depending on their respective business models. Respondents in this category highlighted difficulties regarding the clearance of rights for films. They also stressed that there is a lack of information on ownership of rights.

Further steps

Contributions

• The Society of Audiovisual Authors (SAA)
• AEPO-ARTIS
• EUROCINEMA
• Association of Commercial Television in Europe + European Broadcasting Union
• The Copyright for Creativity (C4C) Coalition
• Film and Music Austria (FAMA)