Creators’ Organisations

This project will explore the role that creators’ organisations play in the way copyright law is operationalised and exploited within existing and emerging business models. It will look into how creators’ organisations represent creators, how they extract value for creators in the way copyright law is interpreted and applied, what challenges they encounter in the process and what steps they take. This research is being organised and conducted by   Ms Nevena Kostova, PhD Candidate at the University of Edinburgh, under the supervision of the Principal Investigator for the project, Dr Smita Kheria. The Project is being undertaken as part of the research programme for CREATe.

Background

Creators’ organisations perform a myriad of functions (representative, advisory, educational, etc.), which significantly shape the framework within which creators operate in practical as well as legal terms. One of the objectives of these organisations is to ensure that copyright is an economic asset not just for the content exploiters but also for the original creators. In recent years, copyright law itself has been undergoing numerous changes in an attempt to address some of the challenges which have emerged with the shift from analogue to digital content creation, dissemination and consumption. Many of these changes are still at the stage of implementation and several issues pertaining to new business models in the creative industries have yet to be addressed. It is therefore a particularly important time to focus on the role that creators’ organisations play in furthering the interests of creators in this changing landscape and on the various challenges that these organisations may face.