CEO’s Review of 2023: The new Copyright Act and EU-level regulation of artificial intelligence coloured the otherwise stable year
The partial update of the Copyright Act improved the position of the authors, publishers and performing artists that we represent. New licensing opportunities also became available for Kopiosto. Additionally, we paid EUR 50 million to the creative industry.
Kopiosto had a stable year in 2023. We collected nearly as much in copyright remunerations as in previous years and paid a total of €50 million to the creative industry as a whole..
The EU directive on Copyright in the Digital Single Market and the Online Transmissions Directive were incorporated into the Finnish Copyright Act as we hoped for, in accordance with the directives. The partial revision of the Copyright Act was completed at the beginning of the year and the updated Act entered into force on 3 April.
The amendments made to the act are important to the creative industry. As new additions, a provision on publisher’s related rights and the responsibility of social media platforms to obtain the necessary licences to distribute works on their platforms were incorporated in the Copyright Act. The authors’ position was also improved, and the retransmission of domestic channels was clarified further.
A strong Copyright Act creates the basis for making a living in creative industries. Culture-based business also creates financial added value for society, which is also by made possible through a good, up-to-date copyright law.
The domestic revision needs were excluded from the Copyright Act update to be considered separately. The preparatory work has not yet begun, but the Government Programme of Prime Minister Petteri Orpo includes an assessment of the need for a general reform of copyright legislation. We will play an active role in ensuring that the legislation will reflect the changes happening in society and in creative industries.
Towards the end of the year, Minister of Science and Culture Sari Multala launched the work for compiling a cultural policy report under the Government Programme. The aim of the report is to produce a vision of the future and measures for the long-term development of cultural policy. In our view, the operational conditions for culture and art are created not only with an up-to-date copyright legislation, but also by promoting the business and export of these industries and by securing sufficient funding for culture in the state budget.
Pilot projects and new opportunities
The updated legislation offers new opportunities to develop our copyright licences. That is why we added two new categories of rights to the Grant of Rights, and asked the creative professionals we represent to extend the authorisation they have granted to us. The categories of rights define what kind of use of work we can grants licences for. By the end of the year, we had received more than 40,000 extended authorisations, which provides us with a great basis for copyright negotiations, also in new usage areas of works and other copyrighted subjects.
In 2023, we also launched several pilot projects. These allow, for example, publishers of scientific journals to digitise their publications and make them available to the public on their websites. Libraries, on the other hand, can use book illustrations more extensively in their videos, on websites or in social media. Pilot projects allow us to gather experiences of the functionality of new licences and, at the same time, enable different ways of using the works while honouring the rights of creative industries’ professionals.
Another new addition was the Kehittämö programme for film makers, which was launched by AVEK, which operates as part of Kopiosto, and the Finnish Cultural Foundation. Kehittämö is the first audiovisual development programme in Finland to focus on the professional development of new filmmakers.
AI regulation under creation in the EU
The rapid development of AI applications is a major driver of change that will affect creative industries and copyrights over the next years. One key question, in particular, is how copyrighted works have been used to train artificial intelligence, for example in the context of extensive language models.
Last year, the first steps were taken in AI regulation when the EU reached a political agreement on the new Artificial Intelligence Act. From the perspective of creative professionals, it is very important that the regulation contains guidelines on the transparency obligation. Another significant factor is that the current copyright legislation must be complied with also in terms of artificial intelligence.
The final details of the act are likely to be specified in the spring of 2024. We actively monitor the development of legislation and add our own perspectives to it, for example by issuing statements.
We have felt it important to initiate and maintain dialogue with our member organisations on the impacts of AI on the creative industries. We interviewed our member organisations about this topic and organised a webinar to hear the views of creatives themselves. The development of AI applications is a major change throughout the creative sector, and it is important to highlight different perspectives and to increase common understanding of the need for regulation and the role of copyright organisations, for example.
Strategy to practice through projects
A new strategy term began for Kopiosto in 2023, and during the year we have launched many projects to put the strategy into practice. In addition to our standard operations, our strategy has three priority areas based on changes occurring in our operating environment: new income streams, reinforcement of advocacy work, and renewal.
The way people consume and use different works and contents is constantly changing. Our objective, within the framework of our role, is to ensure that creative professionals continue to receive the remunerations due to them for the use of their works. At the same time, we want to make new ways of using the works possible for society and the citizens. We are working actively towards this by developing the licencing operations.
To further reinforce our advocacy work, we created a new advocacy model last year to steer our practical social influencing work. The strategic policies for communications were also updated.
Renewal is one of our strategic focus areas. We want to keep up with the technology and develop the use of data in our own operations, for instance. This is why we will also develop our own expertise further. Last year, we carried out a staff survey that will help us to identify our key development targets. The practical work for our renewal will continue this year.
I would like to thank all Kopiosto people for their hard and competent work on behalf of creative work!
Valtteri Niiranen
CEO
Update to the Grant of Rights
The partial amendment to the Copyright Act that came into force last spring gave us new opportunities and contractual licensing regulations to developing work licences further. Therefore, two entirely new categories of rights were added to Kopiosto’s Grant of Rights for publishers and authors who create text, images or photos, while one category of rights was expanded. The categories of rights determine the types of use for which Kopiosto may grant licences.
Due to these amendments, authors and publishers must update their existing Grant of Rights to Kopiosto document. During the year, we held several briefing sessions about this topic for our member organisations. We also provided the organisations with communications materials to support them in sharing information about the topic and added an informative Q&A section to our website where the organisations can direct authors to.
The information was quickly passed on to the authors and publishers, and, by the end of the year, we had more than 43,000 updated Grant of Rights documents.
Copying reviews behind user licences
Our licences which allow for the easy use of works protected by copyright works are often based on reviews of the ways they are copied and used. Last autumn, we reviewed the copying and use of books, newspapers and texts and images published online taking place in universities. More than 2,700 people involved in higher education teaching answered our survey.
The survey showed that copying as a whole has decreased in higher education institutions when compared to 2019. Works such as articles, images or photos and excerpts from different publications are copied and shared for teaching purposes. Based on the study, we negotiated the licence for a new three-year contract term with the Rectors’ Conference of Finnish Universities of Applied Sciences Arene and Universities Finland UNIFI. The licence enables the copying and using of copyrighted material in institutes of higher education.
Clearer licence terms through redesigned rights
Towards the end of the year, we launched a project to make the terms of our copyright licences more accessible to our customers. We are redesigning the wording of the copying licence for companies, societies and public administration and putting it in layman’s terms, but the actual content of the licence does not change.
In autumn, we reviewed the comprehensibility of our licensing terms from the perspective of our customers. Based on the customer interviews, we will clarify the language and visual image of the licence terms. The new licence terms will be published in 2024.
Instructions for teachers on the use of works in teaching
The use of works in teaching has been facilitated by the 2023 amendment to the Copyright Act and the extended licences. Now, for example, video excerpts from content posted online and on social media platforms can be used as demonstration tools in teaching. However, the teachers must know in which situations and how do the permits and licences allow the copying and use of works.
Together with the Finnish National Agency for Education, we put together a set of instructions for teachers on the use of works in teaching. During last autumn, these instructions were delivered to some 75,000 teachers as an attachment to the Opettaja, Läraren and VOL magazines.
Library licence pilot gathered feedback from users of works
In spring 2023, we launched a new user licence pilot for libraries with the aim of facilitating the use of illustrations online.
The licence was designed through consultation with representatives of libraries, the Association of Finnish Municipalities and the organisations representing authors, photographers and publishers. The advantage of a municipal level licence is that an employee of an individual library does not need to obtain a licence separately for each use.
We received plenty of feedback about the licence pilot from the users of works, based on which we changed the licence to better meet the needs of libraries.
AVEK and the Finnish Cultural Foundation’s Kehittämö – Talent Development Lab programme started
The first work projects for the Kehittämö programme focusing on the professional development of new filmmakers were selected in early 2023. The authors who were included promoted their projects with the help of both financial support and the mentoring of international top talents in the audiovisual sector.
After the successful first round, the Kehittämö programme started for the second time in late 2023. The programme is made possible with the financial support of the Finnish Cultural Foundation, which is providing the audiovisual industry with almost one million euros in additional funding over a period of four years.
The first round of Kehittämö included the authors Elisa Kujala, Sawandi Groskind, Siiri Halko, Rabbe Sandström and Katri Myllymaa. Photo: Riitta Supperi
AVEK award anniversary year
Finland’s most significant recognition in the field of media art, AVEK Award, was awarded for the 20th time in September. The awarded artist of the anniversary year, Pilvi Takala is known for her documentarist video art that examines social structures in various communities. The award is worth EUR 15,000.
More goal-oriented sustainability
The first Kopiosto sustainability programme was completed last summer and extends to 2030. Our vision is to make responsible and sustainable choices to promote creative work. Our programme includes four themes: Fair and transparent partner, Responsible user of funds, Healthy and competent working community, and Towards carbon neutrality. Our first sustainability report will be published in 2025, and then every two years after that.
In 2023, our revenue from remunerations totalled 51.2 million euros, 2.0% less than in the previous year. The most significant factors behind the drop were the decrease in the users of online recording services and the copying activities within municipalities and wellbeing services counties.
Most of our revenue came from the use of audiovisual and the copying and use of publications. In addition to these, the revenue includes the compensation for private copying and public lending remunerations, as well as the Ministry of Education and Culture’s creative culture grants to AVEK. As an entirely new revenue item, the AVEK earnings include external funding from the Kehittämö programme with the Finnish Cultural Foundation.
The operating expenses in 2023 totalled 5.3 million euros, which was at a level corresponding to the previous year.
Remuneration funds will be invested in accordance with the investment policy approved by Kopiosto’s Board of Directors for the period between their collection and distribution. In 2023, the profit/loss of the investment and funding operations stood at 1.7 million euros, whereas the profit/loss of the previous year was exceptionally 0.6 million euros in the negative.
In 2023, the total amount of revenue transferred to copyright holders was 47.5 million euros, 2.9% more than in the previous year.
