ABSTRACT
This Study examines music creators’ rights within the EU’s legislative framework, focusing on copyright harmonisation and its effects on fairness in the EU digital music market. It provides a comprehensive analysis of challenges facing music creators, covering the topics of Fair MusE’s Work Package 2 (‘Assessing the Role of Regulation’).
Part I investigates the rights of composers, performers and record producers under EU law, including their scope as established in EU case law (Chapter 2). It addresses the trade-off between rightholders’ protection and users’ rights, including provisions on transformative uses, text-and-data mining, and AI (Chapter 3). Drawing on desk and empirical research across 10 EU Member States (Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Estonia, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Portugal and Spain), the Study analyses the principle of fair and transparent remuneration under Directive 2019/790 (Chapter 4), examining music licensing trends and contractual practices around composers’ and performers’ rights to access platform profit data.
Part II focuses on national implementations of Article 17 of Directive 2019/790 in the same 10 countries. Departing from platform neutrality and the safe harbour of Article 14 of Directive 2000/31, Article 17 establishes a new copyright liability regime for Online Content-Sharing Service Providers (OCSSPs). The Study reviews the provision’s origins, the controversies it raised regarding digital enforcement versus fundamental rights (freedom of expression, business freedom), and the CJEU’s assessment of these concerns (Chapter 5). Chapter 6 compares national transpositions, examines the industry’s response, and explores how rightholders are exercising rights – individually or collectively – and structuring data to support claims against social media platforms.
Part III analyses national implementations of Directive 2014/26 on collective rights management. Chapter 7 assesses whether EU rules have reduced transaction costs and ensured proportionate remuneration across music industry value chains, examining the roles of Collective Management Organisations (CMOs) and Independent Management Entities (IMEs). It finds that by granting rightholders freedom to choose how to license their works, the Directive spurred repertoire fragmentation in multi-territorial licensing, increasing the number of licences digital music services must obtain from CMOs, publisher hubs and IMEs. Uncertainty around IMEs’ obligations adds further complexity, particularly in Italy and Spain. Chapter 8 shows how repertoire fragmentation has complicated the alignment of publishing and recording rights, highlighting the urgent need for robust, interoperable data management infrastructure. Without it, granular and transparent remuneration remains impossible. The Study reviews past integration efforts – including the failed Global Repertoire Database – and analyses transparency obligations for CMOs and online platforms across the 10 countries, finding that greater integration of repertoire data, metadata, and usage reports is essential for equitable revenue distribution.
The Conclusion (Chapter 9) summarises key findings and presents policy recommendations to inform Fair MusE’s ‘Music Copyright Infrastructure’ and the ‘White Paper on Fairness in Europe’s Music Ecosystems’.
Mazziotti, Giuseppe, Music Creators’ Rights under EU Law (August 31, 2025).
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