The EU Giveth And …
the EU taketh away.
The European Parliament voted overwhelmingly against the ACTA “anti piracy treaty [39 in favor, 478 against, with 165 abstentions] and then the EU Commission cooks up a deal to rip off the people who are actually creative: Artists angered by copyright plan:
Members of Radiohead and Pink Floyd are among the musicians angered by plans for a new EU copyright law.
They say the draft law, intended to give performers, composers and producers more rights over their royalties, does not go far enough.
Artists including Pink Floyd’s Nick Mason have signed a letter accusing the European Commission of “breaking promises” to tackle missing pay.
The Commission insists the plans will modernise the way money is distributed.
Performers, producers and writers are supposed to earn royalties every time their music is played on radio, television or public spaces.
The money is collected by about 250 societies around Europe – but the Commission says many of them hold on to “substantial amounts” of that cash.
ACTA was a give-away to the big media companies that failed because people figured it out and began screaming, so now the EU Commission is attempting to burnish its corporate credibility by enabling the middle-man societies to keep performance royalties that belong to the creative people.
