• It all started with a decision in the European courts (C 265/19 Recorded Artists Actors Performers Ltd v Phonographic Performance (Ireland) Ltd) from September 2020 which has created a strange anomaly that we expect to be fixed by the EU as it has significant consequences.
• IMPALA has a one-pager explaining the impact of the RAAP ruling on European performers and producers and the organisations’ key asks to the European Commission, see here.
• The European court said it was obliged to reach the conclusion because of the way the EU directive is drafted, but expressly acknowledged that this legislation could be changed.

IMPALA’s views: 

• EU legislation must now be clarified to respond to the court’s views and expressly provide for reciprocal treatment and also allow for national treatment and other systems currently in place, so as to remain compatible with both international and EU copyright law.
• We estimate that 125m euros per annum are at stake – that is what we calculate would be transferred out of Europe away from European performers and labels to the USA alone each year. 
• There is little prospect of increasing licensing revenues in Europe to compensate for the loss. Even if increases were possible, we would still need reciprocity as it is fundamental to ensure basic protection worldwide (more on this below).
• The very first question is amending EU legislation to reflect the original intention and implement international copyright law properly by recognising reciprocal treatment expressly and also allow for national treatment and other systems currently in place.
• Countries which currently pay should also seek recognition of the principle of reciprocity as it means there is still some leverage in the international system and Europe retains influence – exactly in line with the original intention – and can adjust their decisions in the future. If action is not taken now, it will be too late.  
• To let this slip by doing nothing is like the EU actively choosing national treatment to the detriment of European labels and artists and lets down our counterparts in countries who don’t have rights, as Europe would have no trade pressure. 
• This is not just about the financial aspects. It’s also about basic principles and fundamental copyright protections. What we are seeing is the unpicking of settled understanding of an EU directive over many years.
• Our overall priority is to increase the level of protection across the board in all countries and reciprocity is a fundamental part of that. Without reciprocity the general level of protection around the world would be a lot less. Thanks to this, China and Japan have for example now introduced partial rights protecting performers and labels.
• Our view is that allowing the now apparent hole in the EU legislation to stand will make it more difficult for us to achieve maximum rights for all. It cuts across IMPALA’s efforts to increase rights protection for all with Europe’s trading partners. Trade talks between the EU and the USA are important and IMPALA issued a statement on this in June 2021. The EU should not agree for example to national treatment in trade negotiations as that would be the worst possible outcome for both American and European labels and performers.

Timeline:

-National level: 

• The Dutch law changed in 2021 but the producers/performers collecting society SENA and the Dutch government support a return to reciprocity and this video explains why.
• At the beginning of 2024, Denmark also changed its rules temporarily under pressure from the local IFPI. The Danish Minister for Culture stated that it was unfair that Denmark had to apply national treatment and pay, for example, the US which do not pay Denmark, and that he would fight tooth and nail for the principle of reciprocity to be restored at EU level.
• Similarly, in October 2024, the Swedish government announced that it would temporarily amend its remuneration rules due to EU delays in addressing the RAAP ruling. In his statement, the Swedish Minister of Justice made it clear that this change could lead to reduced revenue for Swedish right holders and increased costs for music users in Sweden, that the government considers the consequences of the RAAP judgement to be highly problematic and that Sweden would continue to work with like-minded countries towards a solution at EU level with reciprocity as the guiding principle.
• In April 2026, when announcing that Ireland was also changing its copyright laws following the RAAP ruling, the Irish Minister for Enterprise, Tourism and Employment Peter Burke said: “As we prepare for our upcoming Presidency of the Council of the EU (starting in July 2026), Ireland will work with the European Commission and with Member States in the Council to help to find a solution that balances the various interests and concerns expressed by Member States, to be addressed via a legislative proposal from the European Commission, which we hope can be proposed without undue delay.”

-EU level:

• In June 2021, in an official answer to a question tabled by several European parliamentarians the Commission acknowledged concerns about the impact of the ruling and confirmed the launch of a study to evaluate the consequences. IMPALA welcomed the Commission’s response as a first decisive step.
• In November 2021, a cross-party group of EU parliamentarians – led by the Chair of its Culture committee Sabine Verheyen – challenged the European Commission about its continued failure to address the consequences of the RAAP ruling on European performance income. The Commission responded in January 2022 that it was taking this matter very seriously, with work on a study expected to start shortly and a parallel information-gathering exercise being carried out with EU member states.
• Work on the study in question started in March 2022 and the final study was published in April 2023.
• The EC published a first call for evidence in July 2022, followed a year later by a second stakeholder consultation published in September 2023. The European Commission published in April 2024 a synopsis report summarising input received within this latest consultation.
• IMPALA raised the alarm on this again in March 2023, two and a half years on from the ruling as there was still no outcome, and yet again in November 2023 in a joint action with artist groups. Music Business Worldwide covered the statement in a piece entitled “Europe’s artists and labels could lose $137m annually to US recorded music rightsholders if EU law isn’t changed, trade groups warn”. 
• In April 2024, as there was still no indication of a possible way forward from the European Commission, IMPALA and several artist organisations from major European music markets published another joint statement calling on the European Commission to “get its house in order” on broadcast and performance monies being transferred away from Europe ahead of the June 2024 European elections. 
• Also in April 2024, MEP Sabine Verheyen and a few of her colleagues tabled another written question asking the European Commission if it could confirm that it would put forward a proposal before the end of its ongoing term of office to confirm the principle of reciprocity. This question was answered by outgoing Commissioner Thierry Breton, who announced in June 2024 that the European Commission would not be bringing forward a proposal under the 2019-2024 mandate. In a response to another MEP question on the RAAP case published in October 2024, Executive Vice President Margrethe Vestager clarified that this matter may be further examined under the new Commission 2024-2029.
• On 1st December 2024 a new European Commission came into office and IMPALA wrote to the incoming Commissioner responsible for copyright, Henna Virkkunen, to share our views on RAAP and ask her to come forward with a proposal to address the consequences of the ruling.
• In December 2024,  IMPALA welcomed a call from six EU member states on EVP Henna Virkkunen to table a legislative proposal to fix the consequences of the RAAP ruling.
•  In June 2025, Vice-Chair of the European Parliament’s Culture Committee MEP Emma Rafowicz and a cross-party group of MEPs from different EU countries tabled a   written question enquiring about the European Commission’s plans and calendar to address RAAP, which IMPALA welcomed in a statement. The European Commission provided a response in July 2025. 
• In September 2025, IMPALA released a statement to mark the fifth anniversary of the “RAAP” ruling, with quotes from MEPs Emma Rafowicz and Bogdan Zdrojewski. 
• In May 2026, the European Commission announced, with a call for evidence, that in order “to make the European music market more competitive and prevent royalties from being diverted away from European music producers and performers, the Commission (was) considering introducing the principle of material reciprocity in applying the single equitable remuneration right (…), taking into account existing national mechanisms, the judgment in Case C-265/19, the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, and the potential impacts on stakeholders and Member States”.
• Organisations representing artist and label organisations across different European music markets, including IMPALA, co-signed a statement in July 2026 entitled “European artist and label groups support EC action to increase the level of rights protection worldwide” welcoming the EC’s intention to confirm the principle of reciprocity through legislation, and making clear that the signatories were not calling for mandatory reciprocity but instead for a proportionate approach clarifying reciprocity while also allowing countries operating a different system such as national treatment to continue doing so.

USA:

• IMPALA supports the campaign by USA rightholders for a national terrestrial radio right and paying out on US recordings without a US domestic right will harm the US’s ability to secure such a right. (Note that the campaign is for terrestrial broadcast, not public performance, but the EU and its members, and indeed most countries across the globe, have both rights in their domestic law to protect performers and producers). Note our calculations show this is worth many  billions just for terrestrial radio alone as that market is worth 10 times digital radio and Soundexchange revenues for digital radio alone are $2bn. This is the real financial loss for american artists and labels. 
• If the USA gains a broadcast right but not a public performance right, we still need the principle of reciprocal treatment to protect European performers and labels from losing their European public performance income. We also need reciprocity to encourage all third countries to introduce full broadcast and performance rights and maximum protection, just like Europe did when it implemented international law in this area.

More from IMPALA members: 

• STOMP, the Dutch association of independent music companies, wrote a letter in March 2023 calling on Dutch artists and their managers to speak up on RAAP. The letter was picked up in an article by Dutch entertainment website EB Nieuws. (original versions of the letter and article here and here)
• Jonas Sjöström, CEO and owner of Playground Music, Scandinavia’s largest independent music company, was interviewed in March 2023 by Musikindustrin about the impact of the RAAP case on labels and artists in Sweden and across Europe. (original version here)
• Listen to Jérome Roger here talking about this to the late Juliana Koranteng in our podcast series 20MinutesWith.