STATUS OF THE ARTIST

John F Smith

President, FIM

General Secretary, British Musicians’ Union

©British Musicians’ Union

UNESCO

• Status of the Artist Recommendation 1980

• World Observatory on the Status of the Artist 1997– Final Declaration and recommendations

UN Declaration of Human Rights, Article 27

1. Everyone has the right freely to participate in the cultural life of the community, to enjoy the arts and to share in scientific advancement and its benefits.

2. Everyone has the right to the protection of the moral and material interests resulting from any scientific, literary or artistic production of which he is the author.

Creating Sustainable Careers

What makes Artists different to other workers?– A large number of employers– Sporadic employment with inevitable periods

of unemployment– Poor and unpredictable income levels (on the

basis of often irregular salaries, fees, royalties and resale rights etc.)

– The necessity of devoting unpaidtime to research and personal development

Creating Sustainable Careers– Poor individual bargaining power – Combining artistic work with another waged

job, in order to survive financially– An unpredictable market place and the

associated risks of success and hazards linked to the effects of fashion

– Unavoidable mobility, linked to isolation giving a poor bargaining position

– Dependence on intermediaries of various kinds such as agents, publishers, producers etc

Creating Sustainable Careers1997 Recommendations to

UNESCONew technology can’t substitute real contact

or traditional arts; Success depends on quality

• Stimulate the Market• Safeguard Intellectual Property• Develop Education and Skills• Provide Good Pensions and Social Protection

Stimulate the Market

– Provide support to explore emerging markets– Acknowledge the contribution of Artists to the

creative industries– Encourage trade unions and trade associations

to disseminate best practice by allowing such activities charitable status

– Include Artists in cultural decision making– Ensure that Artists’ collective bargaining is not

restricted by competition law

Stimulate the Market

– Third party exploitation of copyright to take place by licence not assignment

– Unexploited recordings to be returned to the creator(s)

– Contracts to favour the Artist not the producer– DRM to track the use of recordings

Safeguard Intellectual Property

– Extend the term of protection for performers’ rights

– Enforce and enhance methods already available to protect the infringement of IP rights

– Make ISPs take responsibility for copyright infringement

– Inform the audience when artists are ‘lip-syncing’ to pre-recorded tracks and when ‘play back’ is used

– Recognise the rights of trade unions and associations to ‘bargain’ IP on behalf of artists

Develop Education & Skills

• Help artists at the beginning of their careers

– Make music a core curriculum in all schools– Provide rehearsal facilities– Provide opportunities for life-long learning and

continuing professional development – Encourage unemployed artists to rehearse and

compose

Provide good pensions and social protection

• Ensure recognition by the welfare system of artist as a profession. Develop definitions of artists to assist in attempting to redress the biases evident in many national systems

• Allow increased flexibility in reporting both incomes and employment status, including the possibility of claiming dual status for artists who are simultaneously employees and self employed

Provide good pensions and social protection

• Introduce the possibility of greater deductions for professional expenses, especially for training and professional development purposes

• Reduce tax rates for artists, particularly in the start-up and early business phases

• Adapt the social welfare system to the particular needs of artists, (e.g. by allowing their benefits status to be uninterrupted during short working or research trips abroad)

Provide good pensions and social protection

• Develop innovative and flexible credit schemes such as startup programmes, cash or in-kind assistance to finance material and equipment for artists at the beginning of their careers

• Give low interest or interest-free loans, and reduce security requirements for artists’ loans.