AEPO ARTIS

16/07/2026

🔊 We are pleased to announce the appointment of Ibán García del Blanco as our new General Secretary. He will assume his role on 24 August 2026.

A lawyer and former Member of the European Parliament (2019–2024), García del Blanco has played a prominent role in shaping European legislation on artificial intelligence, intellectual property and culture. As S&D Coordinator in the European Parliament's Committee on Legal Affairs (JURI), he was part of the negotiating team for the AI Act and worked on several key legislative files related to digital policy and copyright. His European policy experience builds on extensive professional experience in the cultural sector in Spain, where he has worked across both the public and private spheres, contributing to the development and promotion of culture and creative industries.

At a time when technological developments, particularly artificial intelligence, are transforming the creative sector, García del Blanco's experience will strengthen AEPO-ARTIS' advocacy for performers' rights and fair remuneration across Europe. Working closely with the organisation's members and European policymakers, he will lead the Secretariat in promoting a legal and policy framework that protects performers while fostering innovation and support the organisation's mission to secure fair remuneration, strengthen performers' rights, and address the opportunities and challenges arising from AI and other technological developments.

Christophe Van Vaerenbergh, President of AEPO-ARTIS, said:

"We are delighted to welcome Ibán García del Blanco as our new General Secretary. His legal expertise, political experience and in-depth knowledge of European digital and copyright policy make him exceptionally well placed to lead AEPO-ARTIS at a time of profound change for the creative sector. We look forward to working with him to ensure that performers' rights remain at the heart of Europe's legislative agenda."

Ibán García del Blanco, incoming General Secretary of AEPO-ARTIS, said:

"It is a great honour to join AEPO-ARTIS and to represent the interests of performers across Europe. Performers are essential to Europe's cultural richness, and their rights must be protected, especially in an increasingly digital environment. As artificial intelligence and other emerging technologies reshape the creative landscape, we must ensure that innovation goes hand in hand with transparency, respect for intellectual property, and fair remuneration for performers. I look forward to working with the AEPO-ARTIS team, members and European institutions to help build a future in which creativity and technology can thrive together.”

We warmly welcome Ibán García del Blanco to AEPO-ARTIS!


https://www.aepo-artis.org/aepo-artis-appoints-iban-garcia-del-blanco-as-new-general-secretary/

01/07/2026

🇪🇺 🇮🇪 With the start of the Irish Presidency of the Council of the EU 2026 , AEPO-ARTIS sent an open letter emphasizing the importance of protecting performers’ rights. Read the full letter on the link below 👇

https://www.aepo-artis.org/aepo-artis-writes-an-open-letter-to-the-irish-presidency-of-the-council-of-the-european-union/

10/06/2026

🔊 AEPO-ARTIS elects new President!

At the first meeting of the newly constituted Administrative Council held yesterday, Christophe Van Vaerenbergh, Managing Director of our Belgian member organisation PlayRight SC/CV was unanimously elected as the new President, and Patricia Riera-Barsallo and Pal Tomori have been re-elected as Vice-Presidents.

A member of the AEPO-ARTIS Administrative Council since June 2023, Christophe has distinguished himself through his strong commitment, efficiency, and valuable contributions to the organisation’s work.

As Managing Director of PlayRight, the Belgian collective management organisation for performers, both actors and musicians, for more than 15 years, he brings extensive expertise in intellectual property, media, and telecommunications law. Before joining PlayRight, Christophe worked for several Belgian ministers on policy issues ranging from intellectual property and privacy to public IT policy. He also served as the head of the Belgian Standards Bureau and is a qualified lawyer with specialised training in IT and telecommunications law from KU Leuven and the University of Namur.

Upon his election, Christophe thanked the Administrative Council for the expressed trust and former President, Dr. Tilo Gerlach, for his 20-year old service and stated:

“The challenges facing performers today go far beyond collective management. From the impact of AI on the creative sector to strengthening copyright protections and advancing international recognition of performers’ rights, there is important work ahead.

I remain fully committed to ensuring that the voices of artists are heard at every level of decision-making. Together with our members, partners, and stakeholders, we will continue to advocate for a stronger, more transparent, and more effective framework that protects performers and supports their future in an evolving creative landscape.”

The Administrative Council also expressed its sincere gratitude to Tilo Gerlach for his long and dedicated service as President. Following his earlier decision not to stand for another term, Tilo concluded his presidency after many years of leadership and commitment to the organisation and will continue to serve as a member of the Board.

👏 We sincerely congratulate Christophe on his election and look forward to working closely with him in the years ahead!

04/06/2026

✅ Today at our Head of Legal Nick Yule presented “Acting Fairly?” - a new report assessing the impact of Chapter 3 of the Copyright in the Digital Single Market (CDSM) Directive on the fair remuneration of actors.

➡️ Completed by 2,382 professional actors across 11 EU Member States, it is the most extensive analysis of contractual practices affecting actors since the entry into force of the CDSM Directive.

📖 Read the full report on the below link 👇
https://www.aepo-artis.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/AEPO-ARTIS-Actors-Report_Acting-fairly-.pdf

01/06/2026

🔊 🇪🇺 The CDSM Directive is currently under assessment - recently we organised our Annual Conference focussing entirely on this topic.

➡️ Titled "7 Years On... Assessing the Copyright in the Digital Single Market Directive", the conference brought together a high-level audience and a broad range of distinguished speakers from European institutions, policymaking, industry, AEPO-ARTIS member organisations and the artistic community.

💫 A big thank you to all of our speakers and attendees, for important and engaging discussions and support you showed for performers and their rights.

On 5 May 2026, AEPO-ARTIS organised its 2026 Annual Conference focu...

20/05/2026

🔷 Important converations going on in Geneva this week 🔷
On the occasion of the anniversary of the WIPO Performances and Phonograms Treaty (WPPT) Treaty, AEPO-ARTIS co-hosted a panel discussion moderated by Xavier Blanc for the participants to the World Intellectual Property Organization – WIPO SCCR.

Professor André Lucas gave his evaluation of how WPPT has impacted the neighbouring rights of artists, and why it has been surpassed by the streaming tsunami.

Ms Hélène Mourot testified in her capacity as a musician and president of the board of our French member Spedidam on the impact that WPPT has had on the practice of collecting neighbouring rights on behalf of its members. Is it time to update WPPT?

18/05/2026

At the recent General Assembly of AEPO-ARTIS, we were pleased to confirm the re-election of our Board Members PlayRight SC/CV and BRITISH EQUITY COLLECTING SOCIETY LIMITED.

We are also delighted to welcome a new Board Member: Huzip - Croatian Performers' Rights Collecting Society, represented by their Managing Director Kristina Delfin Kanceljak.

On this occasion Kristina, as a representative of the newly elected Board Member stated: “Both HUZIP and I personally, as its representative, are truly privileged to have been elected to the AEPO-ARTIS Administrative Council for a three-year term at this year's General Assembly elections.

This election and the profound support from our sister organizations carry a great responsibility, which I trust we will justify through our dedication and work.

The fight for all performers and the advancement of their rights across all sectors, both music and audiovisual, especially in today's dynamic environment, must remain the core focus of AEPO-ARTIS.

We are fully committed to actively working on solutions that will, inevitably and in every possible way, ensure performers are respected as the conditio sine qua non of the performing arts.”

We wish all Board members a successful and productive term and look forward to continuing our joint work in support of performers’ rights across Europe.

21/01/2026

It might not be the most well-known of the diverse range of income sources musicians need to make ends meet, but the use of music as background music in shops, restaurants, and other businesses represents a major part of the income authors, performers, and producers receive through their CMOs.

And here too, AI plays a major role. Recent research has shown that the potential loss for our human musicians could be as much as 25%.

Our General-Secretary Ioan Kaes participated in a panel at ESNS 2026 to discuss what our sector can do.
🔷 Use research such as the Music360 project to prove with hard data the value of music for businesses, for their customers and their staff.
🔷 ©️ Use copyright and related rights to challenge the claim that AI music constitutes a new kind of royalty-free music. AI music models are shallow and meaningless without their training data. Fair remuneration of its human suppliers is a fundamental principle for a level playing field.
🔷 Look beyond your own playing field and acknowledge the issues for what they are. When your sector is confronted with a new player that uses hashtag prices and flouts the rules of fair competition, the government must intervene, just as it does with other sectors.

Thank you very much to Lykle de Vries for the moderation and to hashtag Verlegh, Frank Lucassen and Rolf Dröge for the discussions.

16/01/2026

Participating today in Eurosonic panel titled "Transforming Research into Real Change for Europe's Music Managers", our Head of Legal, Nick Yule, emphasized the situation of performers: "EMMA (emma.community) research has shown that 40% of artists can't make money from touring. So how are they supposed to sustain a career? Not from streaming..."

16/01/2026

🇪🇺 ❗ Previous year saw a wave of new deals between major record labels and AI-generated music companies. While much attention focused on the SUNO and UDIO settlements and resulting licensing agreements, some MEPs remain unconvinced. Questioning whether these deals fully comply with EU law—particularly given that SUNO and UDIO operate in the EU—a group of seven MEPs from three political groups, prompted by developments in France, has asked Vice-President Virkkunen to clarify the legal position.

✅ MEP Rafowicz explains the decision to table the question. “The EU has been the first region in the world to install a regulation on AI providers. While we are still looking into how a better balance between Copyright and AI can be found, we need to make sure that the rules that are in place are respected. So we need the Commission to confirm that they will demand services such as SUNO and UDIO to respect EU copyright when they provide their services – which are trained on large amounts of EU content – to EU citizens.”

✅ MEP David Cormand adds “This Parliament has already made it clear that it supports the development of a licensing market for AI use. However, to be able to develop any kind of licensing our artists are faced with a legal framework that obliges them to opt-out of TDM activities. And so, when they do, that choice should be respected by any AI provider that wants to roll out its services and sell its products here in the EU market.”

As we are waiting for the written answer, read more below 👇

https://www.aepo-artis.org/meps-question-the-legality-of-major-label-ai-deals/