1. General Secretary, British Musicians’ Union
STATUS OF THE ARTIST
John F Smith
President, FIM
General Secretary, British Musicians’ Union
©British Musicians’ Union

2. UN Declaration of Human Rights, Article 27
1. Everyone has the right freely to participate in the cultural life of the community, to enjoy the arts and to share in scientific advancement and its benefits.
2. Everyone has the right to the protection of the moral and material interests resulting from any scientific, literary or artistic production of which he is the author.

3. UNESCO Status of the Artist Recommendation 1980
Conference on the Implementation of Status of the Artist 1997
Final Declaration and recommendations

4. Creating Sustainable Careers
What makes Artists different to other workers?
A large number of employers
Sporadic employment with inevitable periods of unemployment
Poor and unpredictable income levels (on the basis of often irregular salaries, fees, royalties and ER rights etc.)
The necessity of devoting unpaid
time to research and personal development

5. Barriers to Creating Sustainable Careers
Poor individual bargaining power
Combining artistic work with another waged job, in order to survive financially
An unpredictable market place and the associated risks of success and hazards linked to the effects of fashion
Unavoidable mobility, linked to isolation giving a poor bargaining position
Dependence on intermediaries of various kinds such as agents, publishers, record companies etc

6. 1997 Recommendations to UNESCO
Stimulate the Market
Safeguard Intellectual Property
Develop Education and Skills
Provide Decent Pensions and Social Protection

7. Stimulate the Market Provide support to explore emerging markets
Acknowledge the contribution of Artists to the creative industries
Encourage trade unions and trade associations to disseminate best practice by allowing such activities (charitable status?)
Include Artists in cultural decision making
Ensure that Artists’ collective bargaining is not restricted by competition law

8. Stimulate the Market
Third party exploitation of copyright to take place by licence not assignment
Unexploited recordings to be returned to the creator(s)
Contracts to favour the Artist not the producer
Use DRM not TPM to track the use of recordings

9. Safeguard Intellectual Property
Extend the term of protection for performers’ rights
Enforce and enhance methods already available to protect the infringement of IP rights
Make ISPs take responsibility for copyright infringement
Inform the audience when artists are ‘lip-syncing’ to pre-recorded tracks and when ‘play back’ is used
Recognise the rights of trade unions and associations to ‘bargain’ IP on behalf of artists

10. Develop Education & Skills
Help artists at the beginning of their careers
Make music a core curriculum subject in all schools
Provide rehearsal facilities
Provide opportunities for life-long learning and continuing professional development
Encourage unemployed artists to rehearse and compose

11. Provide decent pensions and social protection
Ensure recognition by the welfare system of ‘artist’ as a profession. Develop definitions of artists to assist in attempting to redress the biases evident in many national systems
Allow increased flexibility in reporting both incomes and employment status.
Explore the possibility of greater tax deductions for professional expenses, especially for training and professional development purposes

12. Provide decent pensions and social protection
Reduce tax rates for artists, particularly in the start-up and early business phases
Adapt the social welfare system to the particular needs of artists, (e.g. by allowing their benefits status to be uninterrupted during short working or research trips abroad)

13. Access to Finance Develop innovative and flexible credit schemes:
Startup programmes – including cash or in-kind assistance in financing material and equipment for artists at the beginning of their careers
Give low interest or interest-free loans, and reduce security requirements for artists’ loans.

14. European Developments
Da Silva Resolution (March 9th 1999) on the Role of Artists in the European Union
Motion to the European Parliament on the Status of Artists (May 23rd 2007)– Committee on Culture and Education, Rapporteur Claire Gibault
Gallo Report adopted by the European Parliament September 2010

15. Countries with SOTA legislation
Canada (Ontario, Quebec)
Hungary
Lithuania
Morocco

16. Canada
Canada responded to the UNESCO Recommendation by creating the Siren‐Gélinas Task Force on the Status of the Artist which reported in August 1986.
The 37 recommendations urged:
action by all levels of government on taxation, copyright, collective bargaining rights,
payment of professional rates by governments and their agencies,
social benefits, health and safety provisions,
education, & training
freedom of expression.

17. Canada
In response to the Siren‐Gélinas Report 4, the federal government appointed an Advisory Committee on the Status of the Artist, comprised of artists and officials from unions, associations and guilds, which drafted and recommended adoption of a Canadian Artists Code 5.
Status of the Artist Act, which was proclaimed into federal law in June 1992.

18. Canada
Part 1 of the Act outlines important principles, including: (a) the importance of the contribution of the artists to the cultural, social, economic and political enrichment of Canada; (b) the importance to Canadian society of conferring on artists a status that reflects their primary role in developing and enhancing Canada’s artistic and cultural life, and in sustaining Canada’s quality of life;

19. Canada
(c) the role of the artist, in particular to express the diverse nature of the Canadian way of life and the individual and collective aspirations of Canadians;
(d) to propose measures, based on research and studies, to improve the professional working conditions of artists….”

20. THE END
THANK YOU