Article 13 Moves Forward In Spite of Opposition Growing Larger

• Article 13 is ready to re-enter its final negotiation stages, with supporters and adversaries getting more vocal.
• Last week, music labels asked for the scrapping of the law, and today, their own artists are urging the EU to disregard these misled exhortations.
• France and Germany have already agreed, so anything to change significantly is highly unlikely now.

The controversial new law proposal for copyright protection that is known as “Article 13” has gone through many stages of negotiation, revisiting, modification, reassessment, and adjustment, but it somehow never managed to please anyone, as in all cases it kept its main problematic skeleton unchanged. Increasingly, artists, copyright holders, and EU deputies from various countries are joining the concerns of regular internet users and online entities such as YouTube, urging the EU to even cancel the proposal altogether and return to the drawing board. However, other interest vectors are pushing for the furthering of the law, with no regards to how many or even who are opposing it.

One of those vectors is a bloc that was formed by songwriters, composers, music producers, and music managers, who had their coalitions co-sign an open letter to the EU, expressing their dissent with the official statement made by their music labels in Friday, wanting the law to be scrapped. While the artists do recognize that some of the points in Article 13 could certainly be improved, they still see the law proposal as a savior for their interests.

The letter goes against labels and publishers, saying the following: “It is hugely disappointing to see the music labels and publishers disregard the interests of their creators and artists in this way. The labels and publishers have shown an unsettling disrespect for the talent that they have the privilege of representing, raising serious questions about their suitability to be the custodians of copyright.”

This is indicative of the confusion that has been introduced on all levels of the copyright protection industry, as two parties that have common interest ground cannot agree over whether Article 13 will help them promote it or not. The music industry, as well as other big rights-holders of sports broadcasting events, have all expressed their concerns that the law proposal does not meet the objectives they were aiming for all this time, and on top of that, it will introduce new problems for them. They see Article 13 as a risk-swaying law, clearly stating that they would prefer having no legislation at all.

Nevertheless, the truth is that neither parties or letters to the EU are likely to affect the process. Following a short period of stagnation in its promotion, France and Germany took the initiative to re-discuss the reforming law, agreeing on all points and reaching a compromise on all of those that caused friction between them previously. With the two “big ones” of Europe reaching an agreement, the law is back on track for the final Trilogue negotiations, and so the voices from both sides are ramping up.

Do you think there’s any chance that Article 13 will not pass after all? Let us know of your opinion in the comments below, and don’t forget that you can do the same on our socials, on Facebook and Twitter, discussing this and other topics with our online community.