IViR Lunch Lecture: Towards a fair balance in the digitised music industry: setting the tone

This lecture introduces the dissertation of Jozefien Vanherpe, which focuses on the question how the legal framework can contribute to achieving a fair(er) balance between the interests of composing and/or performing musicians and their corporate partners in the digitised music industry. It analyses the evolving legal framework as applicable in theory and in practice to composing and/or performing musicians, as well as to their relationship with their primary corporate partners in the digitised music industry, namely music publishers and record companies. On a secondary level, the further grant of rights by those primary corporate partners to third parties is also studied. Hereby, copyright contract law is analysed at the international, European and national level. By way of background, relevant principles of general contract law and the law of unfair B2B contract terms and trade practices are also reviewed. The national laws of Belgium, France, Germany and the Netherlands are analysed against the background of the extensive relevant EU acquis. The existing legal framework and the implementation process of the Digital Single Market (DSM) Directive are evaluated on the basis of the criterion of procedural and substantive fairness. Ultimately, a normative contribution is made, suggesting both potential avenues for bottom-up change and regulatory measures that may serve a role in balancing the scales between the interests of all stakeholders in the digitised music ecosystem, both in theory and in practice.

Jozefien Vanherpe obtained the degree of Research Master in Law (KU Leuven) in 2013 and a First Class degree at the LLM program of the University of Cambridge in 2014. From 2014 through 2018, Jozefien was active as an associate specialised in intellectual property law with Belgian law firms Eubelius and CAPE IP Law. She successfully defended her PhD at KU Leuven in March 2022.

Date: 31 May 2022
Time: 12.30-14.00 CET (Amsterdam)
Place:
– IViR Room, REC A, room 5.24, Nieuwe Achtergracht 166, 1018 WV Amsterdam.
– Online via Zoom (you will receive the Zoomlink via e-mail on the morning of the lecture).