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The International Confederation of Music Publishers

ICMP

ICMP is the global trade body representing the music publishing industry worldwide.

Lobbying Activity

Response to Digital package – digital omnibus

14 Oct 2025

ICMP INTRODUCTION ICMP is the global trade body representing the music publishing industry worldwide. ICMPs membership spans the Majors, Indies and 80 national trade bodies across 6 continents. Consequently, we defend the rights of approximately 90% of the worlds commercially released music (more than 170 million tracks, of more than 5,000 genres), from Beethoven to Beyoncé, Schubert to Ed Sheeran, NWA to BTS, folk to fado, K-Pop to hip-hop and all else. THE SMOOTH APPLICATION OF THE EU AI ACT The EU AI Act Regulation is the carefully calibrated result of a lengthy and contested legislative process. Its provisions on General-purpose AI (GPAI) models will help address the unprecedented scale of infringement in AI training and deployment by many AI and/or tech companies. This is a matter of primordial importance to Europes copyright-intensive industries which account for 8.2% of total EU employment (17 million EU jobs) and 6.9% of EU GDP (9.34 billion EUR) (EUIPO, IP Contribution Study, 2022). The effectiveness of the AI Acts GPAI provisions has been initially undermined by an implementation which imperils the aims of the legislation by straying from the core, simple obligation of GPAI deployers to comply with the EU copyright acquis. It is imperative that any simplification improve the efficacy of the AI Acts provisions on General-purpose AI models and do not provide the possibility to further weaken the legal framework. The protection of intellectual property is recognised as a fundamental right in Article 17(2) of the Charter. Furthermore, the EU has obligations under vital international treaties and norms such as the WIPO Treaties, preventing overbroad exceptions-based approaches to AI training. Such international obligations are immensely important to European businesses cannot be breached on a vague promise of future economic growth, particularly considering that Europes cultural and creative sectors (the primary beneficiaries of the EU AI Acts GPAI provisions) contribute more to the EU economy than telecommunications, high technology, pharmaceuticals and automotive industries (EY, Rebuilding Europe, 2021). In sum, Europe should be determined to ensure basic core compliance by GPAI deployers and companies with the basic tenets of EU copyright laws, accordingly, should keep its AI Act enforcement standards robust and should avoid overbroad interpretations of legal exceptions. NEXT STEPS OF THE DIGITAL FITNESS CHECK The EU Digital Services Act has been carefully crafted to address illegality in the digital space and does so in a manner proportionate to the type and size of the service concerned. Its provisions have meaningfully contributed to the exercise and enforcement of rights in the digital environment and have further potential that can be unlocked by a consistent and diligent enforcement against infringing providers. It is imperative to prevent any legislative backsliding on key advances brought about by the Regulation, which focus responsibility on the very largest providers in the digital economy. These include (the maintained) provisions on intermediary liability, notice-and-action, measures against misuse, KYBC and systemic risk, etc. Its framework for supervision and enforcement establishes a valuable network across the EU27 for addressing issues of national or cross-border relevance, while the European Commission is empowered to tackle infringements by the very largest global operators. The very fact that the Regulation is facing headwinds from US industry is testament to its value and should serve as a reminder that regulatory sovereignty underpins EU sovereignty itself. The EU should be determined to deliver now on the original maxim of what is illegal offline should be illegal online. For Europes music and creative industries this means using this law to prevent and reduce the pervasive and persistent problems of illegality via digital IP infringement.
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Meeting with Emmanuelle Du Chalard (Head of Unit Communications Networks, Content and Technology), Kilian Gross (Head of Unit Communications Networks, Content and Technology)

18 Jun 2025 · Discussion on EU AI Act implementation, in particular the GPAI Code of Practice and template.

Meeting with Emmanuelle Du Chalard (Head of Unit Communications Networks, Content and Technology)

20 Feb 2025 · Impact of Artificial Intelligence on the music industry: AI and copyright.

Meeting with Kevin Keary (Cabinet of Executive Vice-President Valdis Dombrovskis)

28 Mar 2023 · WTO, bilateral trade relations, intellectual property