Our members’ repertoire is often distributed, broadcast, downloaded and streamed outside Belgium. This also generates rights, just like in Belgium, which we collect for you through our sister organisations. We have already discussed the practical arrangements for this and the role played by SCAPR in this article.

However, these practical agreements are only possible if there is first a legal framework in place that protects the artists’ rights. Fortunately, this protection is becoming increasingly established the EU and international levels. It is important that PlayRight keeps abreast of these international developments and actively participates in related debates to safeguard the rights – and therefore the income – of its artists. At the same time, there is a need to bring new countries into this circle of legal and practical agreements, especially when our members’ recordings are exploited there. This is another reason why PlayRight is active at the international level through four important networks: SCAPR, IMARA, GAVA and AEPO-ARTIS. 

At SCAPR, the emphasis is on establishing and enhancing our exchange processes. All internal working groups are geared towards this goal and meet several times a year, both in person and via videoconference. 

IMARA is an international alliance of collecting societies committed to protecting the rights of performers in the music sector. This alliance focuses on policy, regulation and advocacy; they work with international partners to achieve greater transparency and fair remuneration. In particular, IMARA plays an active role within the context of the European legislative frameworks, such as the Directive on Copyright in the Digital Single Market. 

GAVA is a global network of collecting societies that manage neighbouring rights for performers in the audiovisual sector. GAVA facilitates knowledge sharing, strengthens cooperation, and negotiates with international users- including major streaming platforms- as a collective entity,. In this way, the network strives to achieve stronger and more uniform representation of performers worldwide. 

AEPO-ARTIS defends the interests of our sector on the European level. The single market, with its free exchange of services across the EU, also affects intellectual property rights such as copyright and neighbouring rights. As a result, individual EU Member States such as Belgium cannot develop their own policies on neighbouring rights. Rather, it is the EU Commission that acts in this area. The current debates at EU level are centred around the establishment of a fair remuneration model not only for streaming and UGC platforms such as YouTube and TikTok, but also for AI. 

In addition to EU rules, there are also international treaties in the field of neighbouring rights. In fact, equitable remuneration- PlayRight’s main source of income for neighbouring rights- is based on one such international treaty, specifically the Rome Convention of 1961. 

PlayRight ensures that it has a seat at the table through its involvement in the international interest groups GAVA (audiovisual) and IMARA (music). This allows us to lobby at WIPO and closely follow developments in neighbouring rights across the globe. After all, we go where our members’ recordings go!