You might have heard about the Atresmedia ruling through Sena or another channel. Here’s a summary of the key points that might be relevant to your situation.

What is it about?

In a ruling by the Court of Justice of the EU, initiated by Atresmedia (a Spanish company owning various TV channels), the court addressed questions about the equitable remuneration for neighboring rights that must be paid for the use of music on television. The court concluded that an audiovisual production incorporating music is not considered a phonogram (recording), and thus, rights holders are not entitled to remuneration for broadcasting the production.

In short: if a music recording is combined with visuals, the broadcaster of this audiovisual production is not required to pay equitable remuneration for that use to the neighboring rights organization.

What is the impact in the Netherlands?

As an EU member, the Netherlands is bound by rulings from the highest court of the European Union. This decision directly affects Dutch law. Fortunately, most industry parties recognize the importance of collective management by a neighboring rights organization like Sena. Sena is negotiating with broadcasters to maintain the current practice where rights holders (artists, session musicians, conductors, and producers) receive compensation through Sena for the use of their music on television. Part of this involves amending the exploitation agreement with rights holders, which has been conditionally approved by the CvTA (College of Supervision of Copyrights).

What is Copyright Power International doing?

In addition to providing practical feedback and information to Sena, we are working with industry organizations to ensure that compensation for audiovisual productions remains in place. We have established a collective with media producers and artists, including members like Sizzer, Massive Music, AMP, and Amsterdam.

What does this mean for you?

The outcomes of the negotiations with broadcasters are still uncertain, so no payments are currently being made for music use on television in 2022. There is a real possibility that compensations distributed by Sena for television music use will decrease starting from the 2022 broadcast year. The ruling does not affect compensations for the 2019 to 2021 broadcast years or for radio music use. We will keep you updated on developments.

What can you do?

Since the basis for collecting and distributing by Sena under the current proposal is changing, it’s important that the agreements between music creators, users, and broadcasters comply with Sena’s proposed solution. The enforcement of the right to use the music (recording – phonogram) in an audiovisual production will be authorized by Sena. The licenses/use terms for music agreed upon by music creators and producers should not contain additional rights to be managed by Sena. In many cases, it might not be necessary to amend the agreement and/or terms under which your music is used, but we recommend reviewing this carefully if you are unsure.

If you have any questions, please contact us.