29/01/2020: Tom Kiehl writes for PRS For Music's M Magazine on why the Government must deliver copyright changes.

Following the news that the Government has no plans to implement the Copyright Directive in light of the UK’s withdrawal from the EU on 31 January, Tom Kiehl has written a piece on the importance of it delivering copyright changes.

On Friday (24 January) the trade body’s deputy chief executive wrote to MP Chris Skidmore calling for an urgent meeting to address the implications of not enacting the EU directive.

Here, he makes the case for supporting the directive’s key proposals.

Tom Kiehl, deputy chief executive, UK Music, writes:

‘Beyond disappointing news. The UK will be left out in the cold.’ Such sentiments, as expressed by the Musicians’ Unions Assistant General Secretary Naomi Pohl, were shared across the music industry over the weekend in response to the worrying announcement that the UK Government has “no plans” to implement the Copyright Directive.

The decision not to proceed is immensely frustrating because the last Conservative Government played a key role in developing the Directive and agreeing to its proposals.

Along with our members, UK Music has worked hard for years to ensure Government ministers understood and supported the proposals which give creators better protection over how their original work is used online.

While Universities and Science Minister Chris Skidmore said last week that the Government will not implement the EU Directive, it is vital that ministers live up to the Government’s previous commitments on this issue by ensuring the core principles of the Directive are transposed into UK law.

Essentially, the Directive focuses on how online content-sharing services such as Google-owned YouTube deal with copyright-protected content.

Read the full article here.