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The International
Federation of Musicians, founded in 1948, is the international
organisation for musicians' unions, guilds and professional
associations and is now counting about 65 members in
57 countries throughout the world.
FIM
has created three regional groups, for Africa (FAC,
the FIM African Committee), for Latin America
(GLM,
Grupo Latinoamericano de Músicos)
and for Europe (the European group of FIM)
.
The Federation’s main objective is to protect
and further the economic, social and artistic interests
of musicians represented by its 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
legislative (or other) initiatives 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. It enables it to participate
in crucial negotiations on the protection of performers
where it can make the voice of musicians heard.
FIM is a member of the International Music Council (IMC).
It also collaborates with all national and international
organisations representing workers in the media field.
It has created the International Arts and Entertainment
Alliance (IAEA) with the International Federation of
Actors (FIA) and UNI-Media and Entertainment International
(UNI-MEI).
IAEA
is a member of the Council of Global Unions (CGU).
FIM works closely with collecting societies administering
performers’ rights.
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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, guilds
and professional associatins worldwide and counts about
65 national organisations in 57 countries covering 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 or four years and its
last meeting took place in Johannesburg in October 2008;
- 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 elected by Congress and made
up of a President, four Vice-Presidents and representatives
of twelve countries (among those represented by the
Federation). 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 an
international NGO (non-governmental organisation) in
the eyes of diverse intergovernmental organisations
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 Organisation)
and also the European Commission, the European Parliament
and the Council of Europe.
In this capacity, 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 founding
principles for 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 (WIPO Performances and Phonograms Treaty)
adopted in December 1996. This Treaty, also described,
together with the WCT, as "Internet Treaty",
was drawn up with the objective of adapting the protection
for performers to digital technologies. Its main difference
from the Rome Convention is to recognise certain performers’
rights which, up till then, had not yet been internationally
recognised. 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 interactive "making available"
of the phonograms. It is on the basis of article 10
that uses of recordings in the digital context can be
regulated. However, the WPPT 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.
4- In the context of ever-intensifying international
and regional negotiations, FIM had 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, or to the possible revision of the Rome
Convention, but also for the drawing up of the 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 belong. 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 contributed
to 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 to the
UNESCO World Congress for implementation of the 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
cultural industries in the developing areas and ensuring
copyright enforcement.
5- FIM, alongside its members, regularly intervenes
with governments for the respect of musicians’
social and intellectual property rights and, more generally,
the promotion of cultural policy. This triple concern
is illustrated by the many interventions made in support
of permanent orchestra musicians. 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 that would respect minimum security
and comfort standards. Musicians should be able to benefit
from a system of social protection. Moreover, respect
of intellectual property laws implies that recorded
performances should not be exploited without the artist's
consent or at least without financial compensation.
Finally, promoting cultural policy implies raising international
awareness so as to defend the preservation of permanent
orchestras whose existence could be 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 has a significant number of member
organisations in emerging or developing countries, set
up in 1997 a regional group in Africa (the FIM African
Committee or FAC), and in Latin America (the Grupo Latinoamericano
de Músicos or GLM). In 1998, FIM 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 an updated
version of this study as a Working paper. In
the conclusions of this study, FIM recommends the development
of a training programme for musicians’ unions
in these regions. Following this recommendation, in
1999 FIM and ILO undertook a training programme on union
organising called “the SYM programme” aimed
at organisations belonging to FIM regional groups.
8- FIM has set out to draw up standard legal provisions
and standard contracts so as to help regional committee
members to promote efficient protection for musicians,
compatible with international legislation and regulation,
and adapted to developing countries.
9- 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 as well as in Asia, Africa and Latin America.
10- 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 professionals with similar
conditions of employment, their member unions are usually
closely bound together.
11- UNI-MEI (UNI-Media Entertainment International)
is another important partner to FIM. This international
non-governmental organisation represents 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.
12- 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 implementing common projects, particularly
at a regional level.
13- The three Federations set up in parallel for their
Latin Amercian members a regional group called CREA
(Coordinadora Regional de Espectáculo de las
Américas), made up of the FIM-GLM, FIA-BLADA
and UNI-MEI-PANARTES.
14- Similarly, for their European members, FIM, FIA
and UNI-MEI created an entity called EAEA (European
Art Entertainment Alliance) made up of the European
group of 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 sectorial social dialogue founded
for those professions in the live performing arts sector.
In the framework of this Committee, the social partners
have commissioned a study on the identification and
promotion of "good practices" likely to foster
live performances in Europe.
EAEA
also sits,
in the same conditions but alongside IFJ, on antoher
European social dialogue committee, dedicated to the
audiovisual sector.
In 2001, EAEA has completed two important studies respectively
devoted to the various regimes of employment and social
protection of cultural workers and to obstacles to the
mobility and free movement of people and products in
the cultural sector in the European Union.
In Autumn 2002, EAEA and ETUC have carried out two additional
studies: the first on the consequences of the implementation
of the European Directives on the sectors of art and
entertainment and the second on the various regimes
of employment and social protection of workers in the
European media, arts and entertainment sector in five
applicant countries.
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