This is the annual meeting of Collective Management Organizations (CMOs) on mechanical rights, which took place on November 6 in Vienna with the participation of AUTODIA, which was represented by Christina Mergoupi, Head of Mechanical Rights/Sync & Private Copy, and Legal Advisor Jenny Gabriel.
The meeting, which was attended by representatives from almost all European Mechanical Rights Societies, included presentations by AUME, the organizer of this year's conference, and by other Organizations, as well as developments on many other interesting issues, such as:
- Information and presentation of the new Collective Management Organization of music rights in the United Arab Emirates, EMRA.
- Presentation of the activities of the American Organization THE MLC, responsible for the collection and distribution of mechanical reproduction rights from the online distribution of musical works in USA.
- The crucial issue of AI in terms of both collective management, and particularly the declaration of works, and of the licensing of LLMs, but also in terms of the tools that use AI technologies in the every-day life and of the internal operations/processes of Organizations.
- Issues/techniques for enforcing controls were analyzed, regarding those users liable to pay mechanical rights, as well as fair remuneration on imports of products subject to the provisions on reproduction for private use.
- Music in Games – Presentation by AUME of the results of the research conducted before the conference by the participating CMOs.
Additionally, two workshops were held with the following themes: “Broadcast Mechanicals” and “Audits in Private Copying”.
About BIEM
BIEM [Bureau International des Sociétés gérant les droits d'enregistrement et de reproduction mécanique] is an international organization representing CMOs that manage mechanical recording and reproduction rights of music. CMOs for mechanical rights exist in most countries of the world. They license the reproduction of musical works of all kinds. Their members are composers, songwriters and publishers and their clients are record companies, producers and other users of recorded music. They also license the mechanical reproduction part of the online exploitation of musical works including streaming and downloading.
BIEM represents and defends the interests of its Member societies, particularly in forums relating to authors' rights such as WIPO, UNESCO, TRIPS and the WCO. Furthermore, BIEM collaborates with international NGOs which pursue the same objectives, such as CISAC and GESAC.