The European Parliament has voted to accept the Article 13 digital copyright reforms this afternoon (September 12).
MEPs approval of the Copyright in the Digital Single Market proposals put forward by German member for the Rhineland Axel Voss meaning the EU's three main institutions, the European Commission, the European Parliament and the EU Council, will now begin to discuss digital copyright together.
The European commissioner for for Digital Single Market, Andrus Ansip had previously urged MEPs to vote for the measure, claiming a delay today to the beginning of "trialogue negotiations" might have seen "the directive may be pushed back several years" creating a "lose, lose" situation for all parties.
While the Copyright Directive covers a raft of digital issues, a sticking point within the music industry had been the adoption of Article 13 which seeks to put the responsibility on online platforms to police copyright in advance of posting user generated content on their services, either by restricting posts or by obtaining full licenses for copyrighted material.
Following the vote, EU commissioners welcomed the decision with Mariya Gabriel, the European commissioner in charge of Digital Economy and Society tweeting to that she "will do my outmost to support the co-legislators to achieve a deal by the end of the year."
The vote will be welcomed by artists, with Roseanne Cash among those telling Music Week why the Article 13 reforms are needed, however before the vote YouTube's chief business officer Robert Kyncl criticised its measures suggesting they could "potentially undermine [the] creative economy, discouraging or even prohibiting platforms from hosting user-generated content."
More to follow.
Reaction to the vote from across the music industry and the EU.
I welcome today's @Europarl_EN adoption of their position on the #copyrightdirective and I will do my outmost to support the co-legislators to achieve a deal by the end of the year. @AxelVossMdEP @EU2018AT pic.twitter.com/9KawaPFdpr
— Mariya Gabriel (@GabrielMariya) September 12, 2018
Great news for artists & the creative community & fans who #LoveMusic that the vote to reform the #CopyrightDirective was passed by @Europarl_EN - #MEPs stood up to the techlobby to fix the #ValueGap & back the creators who produce the content we love & create a fairer internet pic.twitter.com/B71oDlz86E
— bpi music (@bpi_music) September 12, 2018
Amazing to see #Europe’s committment to #culture today in @Europarl_EN adopting #copyrightdirective - now @BarbicanCentre with @InsightBritish hoping #Brexit won’t disrupt the networks of talent and commerce that bring value to us all. Message so far: sorry - no clarity on that. pic.twitter.com/JJ2FPWSxvt
— Paul Pacifico (@allstarspaul) September 12, 2018
Copyright: We welcome today's vote at the @Europarl_EN to start negotiations.
— European Commission ???????? (@EU_Commission) September 12, 2018
It is a strong and positive signal and an essential step to achieving our common objective of modernising the #copyright rules in the European Union. https://t.co/6TGWy3INbo pic.twitter.com/UtfaEjEDc9
MEPs have voted in favour of starting negotiations with member states to update #copyright laws for the digital age → Press release https://t.co/zV1ZCs9B85 pic.twitter.com/kPLc2VQKVc
— European Parliament (@Europarl_EN) September 12, 2018
