We’ve covered the ‘value gap’ debate regularly and emphasised that it’s a slow-burning issue in terms of policymakers deciding how to modernise safe-harbour regulations in the US and in Europe alike. On the latter front, there was a development yesterday as Article 13 of the European Commission’s proposed Copyright Directive sailed through to its next stage, after a vote by the European Parliament’s Legal Affairs Committee.
Article 13 is backed by industry bodies including the IFPI and Impala, who see it as cracking down on digital platforms hosting user-uploaded content (i.e. YouTube, SoundCloud and social apps more generally). Or rather: at least forcing these companies to seek licensing deals, rather than rely on takedown notices from rightsholders.