22/04/2025 - The research confirms that authors and producers often find themselves in a weak negotiating position, whereas performers benefit from a greater use of collective bargaining agreements

The European Commission has released a new study examining contractual practices concerning the transfer of copyright and related rights, with a particular focus on buy-out agreements. The initiative follows up on the 2023 Media Industry Outlook and aims to gather data on how these practices have an impact upon the remuneration of authors and performers, as well as audiovisual producers’ capacity to invest in new works.

The research, commissioned by the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Communications Networks, Content and Technology (DG CNECT), and carried out by Verian Group, Milieu Consulting, NTT DATA and Brussels’ Vrije Universiteit, aims to collect evidence on contractual practices related to the transfer of copyright and related rights. It assesses how these affect the economic position of authors, performers and audiovisual producers.

Its scope encompasses a broad range of stakeholders, including authors and performers active in the audiovisual, music, visual arts, literary and video-game sectors, as well as producers operating within the audiovisual industry.

Moreover, it draws on a combination of methods, including a literature review, a legal analysis of international, EU and national frameworks, and extensive stakeholder engagement. Researchers conducted 91 interviews with a wide range of participants, such as individual authors and performers, producers, broadcasters, streamers, legal experts and umbrella organisations. Additionally, a survey targeting EU-based authors and performers gathered 747 responses. The collected data were used to identify key challenges related to copyright transfer and rights exploitation across the creative and audiovisual sectors.

The study builds on earlier findings, notably the 2019 report on audiovisual authors’ income commissioned by FERA and FSE, and confirms that authors often find themselves in a weak negotiating position. This frequently results in contracts offering limited compensation – typically low lump-sum payments or minimal royalties. Performers, by contrast, benefit from a greater use of collective bargaining agreements, which bolster their leverage.

A related survey conducted as part of the research reveals widespread dissatisfaction with current remuneration practices: 51% of authors described them as “rarely fair”, while 33% deemed them “never fair”. Contributing factors include early-stage negotiation imbalances, standardised fees, and lump-sum payments that fail to reflect a work’s long-term value.

While national legislation on rights retention and statutory remuneration varies across the EU, the study finds a general trend: producers typically acquire broad rights, whereas authors retain limited exclusive rights and access to only a few forms of non-waivable remuneration.

From a production perspective, the study highlights the difficulties faced by EU-based audiovisual producers – particularly independents in smaller markets – when negotiating with global streamers and broadcasters. Under commissioning models, which remain dominant, financiers often retain most or all rights without fully funding the project. This creates structural challenges and undermines the long-term sustainability and diversity of the European audiovisual ecosystem. Although some platforms are increasingly engaging in co-productions and balanced licensing agreements, non-EU players continue to favour the commissioning model.

Finally, the legal section of the study delves into how rights transfer agreements are governed at the international, EU and national levels. It identifies shortcomings in current frameworks, especially concerning buy-out practices and jurisdictional rules, and calls for more effective measures to ensure fairness and rebalance the power dynamics between contracting parties.

The full study is available to peruse here.