Brussels, June 17
The European Music Office (EMO) welcomes the exclusion of the audiovisual sector from the EU/USA trade agreement negotiations.
EMO strongly supports the EU’s decision to safeguard cultural diversity and to defend its cultural and creative industries.
Following a meeting in Luxembourg on June 14th, the EU trade Council has reached an agreement to exclude audiovisual services from the European Commission’s negotiation mandate on the EU/USA trade agreement (TTIP).
Over the past months, EMO has advocated that such exclusion was necessary, since the domination of the global market by US cultural and creative players is already clear.
According to a study published last year by EMO and EuroSonic Noorderslag, in the music sector, US repertoire already represents around 50% of overall airplay and downloads in pan-European charts1.
Besides, many EU cultural markets, including the music sector, are based on very specific regulatory frameworks and are subject to well-functioning national and European support schemes.
The EU music sector is also less homogeneous and less concentrated than the US market, especially in the field of digital access and distribution.
For these reasons, including the sector in the European Commission’s mandate would neither have contributed to reinforce European players on the EU market, nor would it have resulted in growing exports of European productions or services in the US.
The compromise reached last Friday specifies that any decision to re-discuss the issue at a later stage in the trade negotiation process will require unanimity at the EU Council. EMO will continue to support European countries for which Europe’s cultural exception is non-negotiable.
Links:
European Music Office (EMO)
European Commission
United States Department of Commerce