June 3 was a historic day for the Danish music creators. After a political marathon effort, which began in Brussels five years ago and ended at the Danish Parliament, the members passed – with 90 votes in favour and zero against – a new law on copyright which unequivocally recognises that the rights of music creators must be respected in the digital world, too.
The new law includes an all-new stipulation which ensures that online platforms where users have the opportunity to upload and share copyrighted material will in future be responsible for the content available there. In practice, this means that the platforms must either enter into agreements with the rightsholders or prevent content not covered by such agreements from being posted on their platforms.
The law also includes important new rules on TV distributors’ distribution of film and TV streaming services. In this area, too, the law lays down the foundations for reasonable and fair agreements where all players in the market are equal. This will benefit not only composers, songwriters and music publishers, but all Danish creators of artistic content.
An important step towards a healthier digital economy - Gorm Arildsen
At Koda, we have been looking forward to this day for a long time, because we believe that having this law in place is absolutely crucial for creating a level playing field in the competition between all types of content services, which in turn will help promote a sustainable rights economy on the Internet.‘This is a happy day for the Danish music creators. They finally have a law that protects their rights on the very largest platforms on the Internet, and one which puts an end to what has been an entirely unfair and unreasonable distortion of the music market. Now, once and for all, the platforms have been assigned responsibility for the content of their services. Having the same terms and conditions apply to all content providers is an important step on the road to a healthier digital economy, but even more importantly the law ensures proper conditions for the thousands of music creators who deliver the content,’ says Koda’s CEO, Gorm Arildsen.
