NEWSLETTER Q3 2022

Mexican court decision confirms the exclusive right of communication or making available to the public of performances and phonograms. In a decision issued on October 3rd, Mexico’s First District Court on Administrative Matters dismissed an appeal filed by the local authors’ society against the 2020 Reform to the Federal Copyright Law, which recognizes phonogram producers and performing artists have the exclusive right to authorize or prohibit the communication or making available to the public of their performances or phonograms. SOMEXFON, the collective management society for phonogram producers in Mexico, joined as an interested third party in the case, and put forward their arguments to be considered by the Court. This judicial decision is a positive outcome as it reinforces the position of the Mexican legislative body to grant exclusive rights to the three groups of rights holders recognized by international treaties, i.e., artists, authors, and producers.

Música México launches: A comprehensive report on the state of the Mexican music market in 2021, based on IFPI’s Global Music Report. Música México is an initiative led by AMPROFON (IFPI’s National Group in Mexico) in collaboration with FIMpro (the International Music Fair for Professionals), Casete (an indie label and member of AMPROFON), Relatable (an agency providing consulting and content creation services mainly focused on the music industry) and the University of Guadalajara. This report not only includes detailed data on the Mexican music market, featured in IFPI’s Global Music Report 2022, but also includes commentaries from leading figures in the recorded music business. The report can be downloaded for free from the portal of the Música México initiative (https://www.musicamexico.org).

Latin music sees strong growth in the US market. Building on the 35% growth rate in 2021, US Latin music revenue increased by 23% over the first half of 2022 to reach US$510 million, according to the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). Revenue from streaming formats was the main growth driver, growing by24%, and accounted for an incredible 97% of total Latin revenues. With growth outpacing overall US music revenues, Latin music grew its share to a record high of 6.6% of total revenue. Read the full RIAA release here (English and Spanish language available)

Brazilian court issues official blocking order against piracy sites, shutting down 41 infringing music apps. IFPI and Brazilian National Group, Pro-Música, supported Brazilian law enforcement authorities with a series of coordinated actions to tackle infringing services on the internet. This is the most intense round of website blocking actions in Brazil to date. The streaming ripping targets accumulated over 66 million monthly visits in Brazil. These actions involved cooperation with Cyber Gaeco – the Public Prosecutor’s office of São Paulo State.

Presentations of the 24th Annual Gardel Awards and of the 6th Annual Estela Awards. The annual Gardel Awards recognize the best of Argentine music, celebrating local music talent across different genres and categories. The prestigious awards have been running for 24 years, and the highlight of the ceremony is the presentation of the Golden Gardel Award, which has previously been awarded to Sandro, Mercedes Sosa, León Gieco, Charly García, Gustavo Cerati and Divididos, among other artists. Winners are selected by a voting jury of musicians, journalists, and other members of the media, as well as show producers, sound engineers and music personalities. CAPIF, the trade association that represents Argentinian phonogram producers., present the Gardel Awards. This year’s ceremony took place on August 23rd. The successful Argentinian rapper Wos was proclaimed the winner of the Golden Gardel and four other awards. https://premiosgardel.org.ar/ganadores/24)

The Estela Awards recognize the best of Guatemala’s music. The local collective management societies AGINPRO and Musicartes created these Awards in 2017 seeking to strengthen the music industry in Central America and providing a benchmark of outstanding Guatemalan music productions for generations to come. This year’s ceremony was held on September 25th, and Dennis Arana won the “Artist of the Year” award. (https://premiosestela.com/)

IFPI runs IP seminars for copyright offices in Paraguay and Peru. In order to provide support for the identification of local infringements of intellectual property rights and to train staff involved in the ongoing fight against music piracy, IFPI took part in seminars and training workshops both with DINAPI (Paraguay’s Intellectual Property Agency) in Asunción in August, and with INDECOPI (Peru’s National Institute for the Defense of Competition and Protection of Intellectual Property) in Lima in September. These sessions followed collaboration agreements signed with these two national copyright offices in recent months.