IAO inks new deal in France for digital music

France’s Minister Of Culture And Communication, Fleur Pellerin formally announced on Wednesday that negotiations for a ‘Fair Development Of Online Music’ was close to completion.

The International Artist Organisation (IAO) – the umbrella association for groups like the UK’s Featured Artist Coalition – finalised the deal to see French artists duly compensated for digital sales.

The agreement is for a government-led initiative which puts pressure on record companies to be more transparent with artists over their digital deals, and to play fair in sharing any kickbacks like advances and equity stakes. In a statement to the UK’s Featured Artist Coalition yesterday, representatives for IAO stated that the French government, pledges to work to ensure a strong copyright framework domestically, in Europe and worldwide, while “seeking clarification to rules applicable to online content distribution platforms”, aka reviewing safe harbours.

The IAO is a not-for-profit organisation based in Paris that was officially founded in 2015 by six groups: FAC (UK), GAM (France), CoArtis (Spain), Domus (Germany), Gramart (Norway) and FACIR (Belgium). The agreement of the code follows negotiations between labels, digital platforms, artists and unions led by senior civil servant, Marc Schwartz.

The new agreement has been put together by Schwartz, who was asked by the French government to facilitate talks between corporate rights owners, performers and digital platforms back in May.

IAO President Paul Pacifico said in a statement in yesterday’s open letter to the ‘Featured Artist Coalition’: “The music industry must pull together and work as one to get real value from the legal digital opportunities in front of us. This code represents a genuine opportunity for the industry to move forward together and agree not to repeat the sins of the past where artists have not benefitted equitably from the massive growth in the digital market.”

Less than a week ago, Universal, Sony and Warner also signed a reworked deal with a powerful artist lobbying group in the US to better reward its members from streaming. With both agreements formidable in their attempts, the influence should see the calls for a digital revolution heard.

Image: Anthony Gonzalez aka M83