D5.6 – Policy Brief 1: Music Metadata Mainstreaming and EU Law

In order to enable composers, performers and the music industry to benefit from licensing opportunities in the field of new technologies, such as AI training, it is important to establish a comprehensive music metadata infrastructure that improves the visibility and accessibility of the European music repertoire in digital and algorithmic environments. Recognizing the need for metadata improvement, various European initiatives aim to increase awareness among artists and rightholders, and to build bridges between existing metadata collections and infrastructures. One central factor in the equation, however, has remained underexplored and underused to this day: despite the prohibition of formalities in the Berne Convention, it is conceivable to employ legal mechanisms, such as the notification of work-related information under Article 17(4)(b) of Directive 2019/790 on Copyright in the Digital Single Market, the opt-out mechanism relating to text and data mining that follows from Article 4(3) of the same Directive, and the EU rules on collective rights management, as well as the broader legal framework applicable to data spaces as vehicles to impose an obligation on rightholders to constantly provide updated music metadata in standardised form. If information stemming from these channels is pooled, the resulting accumulation of EU copyright data could lead to a promising reservoir of music metadata that is capable of enhancing and boosting licensing opportunities.