The Swedish streaming platform, Spotify, threatened in the month of July to leave Uruguay in the event that two articles that compromise the profits of the company are approved; Faced with this, several government participants came out to give their opinions on the matter.
Spotify sent him a letter on July 19 to the Minister of Education and Culture, Pablo Da Silveira, requesting that the modifications that are to be made to articles 284 and 285 of Law No. 9,739 that regulates copyright in the Uruguay. “If the proposed reform were to become law in its current form, the business of Spotify in Uruguay it could become unfeasible, to the detriment of Uruguayan music and its fans,” the letter explained.
In addition to the claims Spotify, the Uruguayan Record Chamber (CUD) who, in coincidence with the Swedish company, ensure that the changes proposed by the bill affect and endanger their activity. With this, several repercussions were generated within the political arc, several with an intention to reconcile and others that were not.
Inside of the National Partythe senator Jorge Gandini established that it intends to generate a consensus between the cud and the Uruguayan Society of Interpreters (Sudei) – one of the main organizations that state that the modification is necessary – from listening to the proposals and trying to translate them into the newsroom. However, in case that does not happen, he assured that he will vote in favor of the changes.
The senator for Town meeting, Guillermo Domenechassured that he will vote in favor of the modification of the articles in the Accountability since he assures that from the party “it gives them the impression that, in many cases, these platforms profit from the work of others.” For her part, the white senator, Carmen Asiain, He assured El País that these modifications do not imply an extra outlay, but rather presuppose a better “distribution of resources among all the participants.”
The sector of citizens He also expressed his opinion on the matter and the leader of the movement, Adrian Pena, told El País to be in favor of the position of the interpreters. To this is added the opposition who spoke in favor of the modifications, based on the statements of the Frente Amplista senator, Oscar Andrade, who assured that he shares the essence of the changes since it seems logical to protect “the most unprotected part, without which there is no artistic event.”
Guild position
The Uruguayan Record Chamber (CUD) presented on August 30 a letter in the Committee on Budget and Finance of the Senate, where he ruled against the two articles that the government intends to modify in relation to copyright. In the letter, to which El País agreed, they establish that the departure of Spotify will steer the industry into piracy that “obviously doesn’t pay” and much of the income from performers in Uruguay comes from the streaming platform.
In this sense, they assured that there is a lack of debate on the articles that they want to modify and that there is little information regarding how the industry is managed since the CUD assured that all the interpreters get paid for their work and reproduction on digital platforms. “Pretending that they pay again has only motivated them to reconsider ceasing their activity in the Uruguay”, stated in the letter. “There is no real problem to solve,” they assured from the CUD.
On the other hand, they remarked that 90% of the repertoire used locally is of foreign origin, so it would not benefit the Uruguayan artists. In this sense, from the union they also assured that the project overwhelms rights and that it forces artists to accept a forced unionization instead of allow them to negotiate individually.
What is Spotify’s argument?
According to Spotify, the modifications proposed in the Accountability for the law that regulates copyright in Uruguay would imply an additional payment to what the company already provides, something that “would severely affect the ability to invest and provide services at reasonable prices for consumers.” On the other hand, they remarked that, despite the great popularity of the platform, its gross margins are lower than traditional record stores or radio stations.
In this sense, they assured that “with that historically low margin” they must cover the business operating costsincluding promotion of local and global repertoire, data portals and other tools for artists and their teams to develop new audiences inside and outside our platformdeveloping personalized recommendations for fans, and investing in their world-class music team.
On the other hand, since Spotify highlighted the importance of their company in terms of music growth in Uruguay. “We have played a fundamental role in reversing the decline of the music industry, which was plagued by piracy. Thanks to streaming, the music industry in Uruguay grew by 20% last year alone, to the benefit of artists, composers and those who support them,” the letter explained.
Source: Ambito
