Ladies and gentlemen,
Dear everyone,
I am very pleased to be here and to meet with you on the occasion of this major annual event, MIDEM, for your entire sector. First, I want to tell you why and how important this process is to me as minister. It’s an important stream for my department because it’s an important stream for society as a whole. The cultural project I carry is a social project, which is based on two values: emancipation and cohesion. Music plays an essential role, since it supports both. It is a support of emancipation for the individual, through creation, practice; through, also, the economic ecosystem and entrepreneurship that it nourishes, of which you are figures.
Music, on the other hand, is a support for cohesion on a collective scale, because it unites, because it unites, because it softens. It is as such that it is attacked today. I do not need to recall the horror of the attacks on concert halls in recent months – I am obviously thinking of the Manchester attack and the Bataclan in Paris. At the time it is attacked, the music must allow us, precisely, to stand up. It is greater than the mediocrity aimed at it. More than ever we need her, and therefore more than ever we need you, who support her. That is a channel I will fight for, I can assure you.
I am therefore very pleased to be here, and more particularly pleased to open this meeting on copyright. Because it is at the root of everything. At the root of this sector, of its dynamism, and therefore of the accessibility of works for the public. This is something to be defended in this time of the digital challenge, and you can count on me to do so with the utmost resolve and determination.
I consider that there is a French responsibility in this fight for the defense of copyright, on two levels: because it is a fight for cultural diversity, on the one hand, which is at the heart of the French model; and because it is a fight for Europe, On the other hand, the recasting of which is one of our priorities.
First, a fight for cultural diversity. France has a special voice, because it is here that copyright and related rights were invented, precisely to defend creation and diversity. Copyright was created in this country three centuries ago around Beaumarchais, who fought first to have the ownership of creators of their works recognized. France also played a decisive role in the international recognition of neighbouring rights, enshrined at the national level by the 1985 Lang law. All these rights are the first instruments of cultural diversity. For there to be diversity of content, there must be free and abundant creation; and for there to be creation, there must be protection and remuneration. For centuries, therefore, this country has been fighting for the recognition of those who do the works of the spirit; for those who interpret them; and for those who disseminate them, and make them accessible to the general public. We will honour and defend this tradition. More than ever, France will be a land of creation and guardian of diversity.
If there is, second, a French responsibility in this fight, it is because it is a fight led by and for Europe. And there is, more precisely, a responsibility of my ministry. The refoundation of the European project will go through culture. My conviction is that we have common preferences in Europe, and therefore common positions to be asserted vis-à-vis the rest of the world, in terms of the cultural model. As soon as I took office, I saw that.
I fought – a few days after my appointment, on the occasion of the European Council of Ministers for Culture on 23 May – to defend a number of amendments to the draft revision of the so-called “SMA” directive on audiovisual media services. The subject was not directly related to the music sector, but I want to take it as proof of what we can accomplish at the European level. France has made its voice heard, and we have made major progress. In particular, we managed to increase the minimum quota of European works in the catalogues of video-on-demand services to 30%. A few years ago, no one would have thought that a quota would even be possible. A few months ago, and until the eve of the discussions, a low threshold of 20% was mentioned. France has made its position known loud and clear, with the support of the countries of Southern Europe and Germany, among others, to increase this quota to 30%. It’s a huge victory for cultural diversity, for artists, and for the public, of course. But it is also and above all a victory for Europe. Because we have shown that institutions are not meant to be a blocking arena. And we have shown that culture can be the basis for the revival of the European project. This fight, which is not over, prefigures the one I intend to lead when negotiating the copyright directive.
I want to tell you about the four issues that I believe are “European preferences”, and that I want to defend in the coming weeks and months.
The first is the defense of an equitable sharing of value among all actors in the sector: broadcasters, and in particular video sharing platforms; publishers; and artists. This is, I know, the most sensitive issue in music, where there are inequitable capture phenomena. Proposals have been put on the table by the European Commission, which I welcome, to alleviate this problem. They aim to clarify the status of platforms with regard to copyright, and to make them more accountable, in collaboration with rights holders. I will personally look into this matter. And I encourage professional organisations to mobilize at European level, to convince the Member States, but also to convince European parliamentarians, who will have a decisive voice.
Another subject on which I will be particularly vigilant is the fair remuneration of authors and performers. In particular, France wishes, within the Directive, to introduce provisions allowing for a fair and distinct principle of remuneration for each use made of their creation or interpretation.
I will also strongly mobilize myself in the face of initiatives that would tend to weaken the principle of territoriality of the rights of distribution of works, which is a principle to be defended.
Finally, the fight against piracy must progress. It is a priority, the mother of all fighting. Because how can we talk about sharing value when the value has disappeared? The fight against piracy will include intensifying repression of illegal sites.
Those, ladies and gentlemen, are my few words to you today. The defense of copyright is a French ambition; and it will, with me, be a European fight. That is to say a fight that will advance through Europe. And that is to say, a struggle which, itself, can advance Europe, by crystallizing common positions. If Europe succeeds in forging a copyright policy, it will become a continent of creation and cultural diversity. You can count on me to move in that direction. You can count on my to support your sector.
Thank you.
I wish you all a good day.