 |
|
|
|
|
|
|

|

John Smith,
FIM President
Benoît
Machuel , FIM General Secretary

John Morton, President emeritus of FIM
Brief
description
|
|

|
The International
Federation of Musicians founded in 1948 is the international
organisation for musicians and is now counting 72unions
throughout the world.
Recently FIM has created two regional groups; one for
African countries and the other for Latin America countries.
The Federation’s main objective is to protect and
further the economic, social and artistic interests of
musicians organised in member unions. This leads to such
activities as:
Furtherance of the organisation of musicians in all countries,
Federation of unions of musicians throughout the world,
Furtherance and strengthening of international collaboration,
Promoting of national and international protective legislation
in the interests of musicians,
Making of agreements with other international organizations
in the interests of member unions and of the profession,
Obtaining and compilation of statistical and other information
referring to the music profession and provision of such
information to member unions,
Moral and material support of member unions in the interests
of the profession and in accordance with the objects of
FIM,
Furtherance of all appropriate efforts to make good music
a common property of all people,
Holding of international congresses and conferences,
Close collaboration with the World Intellectual Property
Organization (WIPO), the International Labour Office (ILO)
and UNESCO, and the maintenance of continuous relations
with all international organisations which could be of
service to FIM.
As a non governmental organisation, FIM has a permanent
relationship with major inter-governmental organisations
such as UNESCO, the ILO, WIPO. It is recognised and consulted
by The Council of Europe, the European Commission, the
European Parliament, which enables it to participate in
crucial negotiations on the protection of performers and
to make the voice of musicians heard.
The Federation is also member of The International Music
Council (IMC). It collaborates with all national and international
organisations representing workers in the media field.
It has close working relations in the framework of the
International Arts Entertainment Alliance (IAEA) with
the International Federation of Actors (FIA) and UNI-Media
and Entertainment International (UNI-MEI).
FIM works closely with collecting societies administering
performers’ rights.
|
|
 |
FIM activities
|
|

|
1. The International
Federation of Musicians (FIM) was established in 1948.
The objectives were to represent and defend music performers’
interests at an international level. It is the only body
which represents musicians’ unions worldwide and
its members include over 65 national organisations which
cover all regions of the world.
2. The FIM Secretariat is located in Paris. The General
Secretary is responsible in particular for administration
and implementation of decisions taken by the FIM governing
bodies as follows:
- The Congress which determines general directives and
activities. It meets every three years and its last meeting
took place in London in December 2004;
- The Executive Committee which, in liaison with the Secretariat,
ensures that the provisions contained in the FIM Rules
and the guidelines decided by Congress are implemented.
It is made up of a President, four Vice-Presidents and
twelve members who are designated by member unions. It
meets when necessary but at least once a year;
- The Presidium is made up of the President, the four
Vice-Presidents and the General Secretary. It meets on
a regular basis in order to further the Federation’s
activities.
3- For many years now, FIM has been recognised as a NGO
(international non-governmental organisation) in the eyes
of diverse international authorities operating in its
field of activity, and in particular WIPO (World Intellectual
Property Organisation), UNESCO (United Nations Educational,
Scientific and Cultural Organisation), ILO (International
Labour Office) and also the European Commission, the European
Parliament and the Council of Europe.
4- FIM plays an important role in international negotiations
concerning the development of performers’ rights.
Thus it was one of the driving forces in the adoption
in 1961 of the Rome Convention which was the first international
treaty to recognise intellectual property rights to the
performers. FIM subsequently took part in the negotiation
over a succession of European Directives in this field
together with the revision of certain national legislation.
It drew up the founding principles of the collective management
of performers’ rights and initiated, alongside unions,
the setting-up of numerous collecting societies managing
performers’ rights. More recently, FIM has taken
an active part in negotiations over the WPPT Treaty (WIPO
Performances and Phonograms Treaty) adopted by WIPO in
December 1996. This Treaty, also described as "Internet
Treaty", was drawn up with the objective of developing
the protection for performers in the context of digital
technologies. Its main difference from the Rome Convention
is to recognise certain performers’ rights which,
up till then, had not yet been internationally accepted.
Thus article 5 recognises a moral right concerning performances
fixed in a phonogram, article 8 provides an exclusive
right of distribution of the phonogram, article 9 provides
an exclusive right of rental of the phonogram, and article
10 provides an exclusive right of making interactively
available the phonogram. It is on the basis of such article
10 that uses of recordings in the digital context can
be regulated. However, the WPPT Treaty does have one serious
loophole insofar as governments decided to exclude audio-visual
fixations from its field of application, which therefore
precludes any uniform protection of performers’
rights.
In the context of ever-intensifying international and
regional negotiations, FIM has to take part in an increasing
number of meetings, particularly with regards to the implementation
of the WTO/TRIPS Agreement (Agreement on Trade-Related
Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights), of the WPPT
Treaty, or to the possible revision of the Rome Convention,
but also for the drawing up of the new European directive
related to the rights in the "Information society".
FIM is also involved as an expert in certain works being
carried out by the International Labour Office. In this
capacity, it has been consulted on the proposed ILO Convention
covering “contract labour”, which aim is to
create certain minimum rights which would enable millions
of workers throughout the world to obtain basic social
guarantees. FIM is also taking part in works which ILO
is carrying out in the field of "informal" or
"atypical" employment to which a certain number
of musicians, particularly in the developing countries,
might be covered. In more general terms, FIM is involved
in works on the protection of casual and free-lance workers.
FIM has also taken part in UNESCO initiatives towards
the recognition of the status of the artist. It therefore
participated in the drawing-up of the Recommendation on
the status of the artist adopted in 1980 in Belgrade by
the UNESCO General Conference, then in June 1997 in Paris
at the UNESCO World Congress for implementation of this
Recommendation. In addition, FIM cooperates with UNESCO
in the framework of the Global Alliance. The purpose of
this UNESCO programme is to develop projects on the basis
of partnerships with public, private and civil societies
for promoting the cultural industries in the developing
areas and ensuring copyright enforcement.
5- FIM regularly intervenes via its members with governments
in order to ensure respect of musicians’ social
and intellectual property rights and, more generally,
to promote cultural policy. This triple concern is perfectly
illustrated by the many interventions made in support
of permanent orchestra musicians. In between that, salaries
should match the technical and artistic qualities required
for the position of a professional orchestra musician.
Working conditions should be such that one should be able
to evolve in a context of security and minimum comfort.
Finally, musicians should be able to benefit from a system
of social protection. Moreover, respect of intellectual
property laws implies that musicians’ recorded performances
should not be exploited without their consent or at least
without financial compensation. Promoting a cultural policy
means mobilizing people on an international scale so as
to defend the preservation of permanent orchestras whose
existence could be in jeopardised.
6- FIM regularly carries out studies and adopts recommendations
on topics such as musicians’ health, preservation
of live performances opportunities, orchestra musicians’
salaries, international norms on music scores and, more
generally, questions relating to musicians’ working
conditions.
7- As part of its extension of activities and its regional
approach, FIM, which represents a number of organisations
in developing countries, set up in 1997 two regional groups:
in Africa, the CAF (FIM African Committee), and in Latin
America and the Caribbean, the GRM (Grupo Regional de
Músicos). In 1998, it submitted a detailed report
to the International Labour Office on the social status
of performing musicians in Asia, Africa and Latin America.
In 2001, the ILO published the updated version of this
study in a working paper. In the conclusions of this study,
FIM recommended the development of a training programme
for musicians’ unions in these regions. Following
this recommendation, in 1999 FIM and ILO undertook a union
training programme called “the SYM programme”
aimed at organisations belonging to FIM regional groups.
8- FIM has also set out to draw up standard legal provisions
and standard contracts with an aim to helping regional
committee members to promote efficient protection for
musicians compatible with international legislation and
regulation, and adapted to developing countries.
9- In 1999, the FIM Executive Committee decided to implement
new means for actions concerning long term issues. The
principle is as follows: one or several FIM member unions
are delegated by the Executive Committee to act on behalf
of the Federation on the basis of a long-term programme.
FIM, together with several of its members, have made the
following agreements:
- the setting-up of a data base and an international network
concerning musicians’ health (programme delegated
to the British Musicians’ Union).
- action programme concerning promotion of live music
(programme delegated to the Dansk Musiker Forbund and
the French National Musicians’ Union).
- action programme concerning music education and employment
(programme delegated to the Koninklijke Nederlandse Toonkunstenaars-Vereiniging).
- action programme of creation of an international network
of orchestras (programme delegated to the American Federation
of Musicians)
- action programme concerning promotion of musical education
at school (programme delegated to the Musicians’
Union of Japan).
10- FIM has working relations with non-governmental international
or regional organisations involved in the performing arts.
It is a member of the IMC (International Music Council)
with whom it regularly organises events in Europe but
also in Asia, Africa and Latin America.
11- Ever since the two international artists’ Federations
have existed, they have worked in close relationship and
permanent on-going co-operation. The FIA (International
Federation of Actors) is the historical and natural partner
of the FIM and the two organisations pursue the same objectives
of safeguarding and developing the interests of performers
from economic, social and artistic points of view. By
defending in their respective countries the interests
of performing artists with similar conditions of employment,
their member unions are often tightly bound together.
12- Another important partner who regularly collaborates
with the FIM is UNI-MEI (UNI-Media Entertainment International),
a non-governmental international trade unions organisation
representing technicians and specialist workers in the
audio-visual and performing arts spheres, as well as authors
(writers, script-writers, film-makers, photographers,
authors of graphic works etc.). UNI-MEI is a division
of UNI (Union Network International), an organisation
originating from the merger of MEI (Media Entertainment
International), FIET (Fédération Internationale
des Employés et Techniciens et cadres), CI (Communications
International) and IGF (International Graphical Federation).
In 1995, FIM, FIA, UNI-MEI and IFJ (International Federation
of Journalists) set up ICEMU (International Committee
of Entertainment and Media Union) with a view to developing
international strategies on topics of mutual interest.
13- In the same way, FIM and its two sister Federations,
FIA and UNI-MEI, created in 1997 an entity called IAEA
(International Art and Entertainment Alliance) with a
view to developing common projects, particularly at a
regional level.
14- For this reason, the three federations set up in parallel
for their Latin Amercian members a group called CREA (Coordinadora
Regional de Espectáculo de las Américas),
made up of the FIM-GRM, FIA-BLADA and UNI-MEI-PANARTES.
15- Similarly, for their European members, FIM, FIA and
UNI-MEI created an entity called EAEA (European Art Entertainment
Alliance) made up of the FIM, Euro-FIA and UNI-Europa-MEI.
EAEA is a member of the ETUC (European Trades Union Centre).
The European Commission invites the EAEA to attend its
meetings as sole representative of performing arts workers
in the Committee for social dialogue founded for those
professions in the performing arts sector. In the framework
of this Committee, the social partners have commissioned
a study on the identification and promotion of "good
practices" which might possible foster live performances
in Europe.
In 2001, EAEA has made two important studies respectively
devoted to employment and social protection schemes of
performing arts workers in the European Union and to obstacles
which prevent the free circulation of artists and cultural
productions in the European Union.
In Autumn 2002, EAEA and ETUC have submitted two additional
study proposals to the European Commission: the first
on the consequences of the implementation of the European
Directives on the sectors of art and entertainment and
the second on the status of workers in European media,
arts and entertainment sector in five applicant countries.
|
|
|
|
|