23 November 2021
WIPO For Creators is a movement initiated by WIPO (World Intellectual Property Organization) which aims to ensure that creators around the world are recognized and fairly rewarded for their work. This movement has actually started since 2020, when Music Rights Awareness based in Sweden, the hometown of famous musicians, from ABBA, Roxette, to Avicii collaborated with WIPO to unite content creators, governments, other stakeholders around the world in one community. which aims to promote the goals of the consortium.
In his remarks on the joining of Universal Music as the first corporate sponsor, WIPO Director General Daren Tang said, “It is great to welcome Universal Music Group (UMG) into the WIPO family of creators and to see music companies like UMG take a leading role in our efforts to promote awareness of intellectual property rights among creators around the world.”
The benefits of this partnership are considered to be very broad and important, especially for creators in developing countries where artistic talent is abundant. Daren hopes to work closely with UMG to engage other big players to ensure the benefits of WIPO for creators can be felt near and far.
ABBA Member Björn Ulvaeus and Music Rights Awareness Foundationas the initiator stated that this news is very encouraging and very inspiring, and gives hope that Universal Music Group will give full support to WIPO and its concern for the creators. They also considered that Lucian and Jody Gerson (CEO of Universal Music Group) are people who have a deep understanding of creators and how they work. All of that can be from personal experience, that knowing that the presence of a global music company behind all this is good news. This will provide a boost to the project and hopefully will attract other players in the industry to give generously as Universal Music Group has done.
Universal Music Group chairman and CEO, Sir Lucian Grainge said that creators, songwriters, recording artists, or those who express themselves through other art forms are at the heart of everything they do at UMG. Creators have the potential to drive culture on a global scale through the power of their talent. Lucian judged that no one knew this better than Björn. “He has dedicated his life to creating iconic music that defines a genre and at the same time he is also a tireless lawyer for songwriters,” he explained.
Lucian expressed his joy at being able to join Björn and all our friends at Music Rights Awareness and WIPO in supporting WIPO for the important work of creators.
Then the chairman and CEO of Universal Music Publishing Group (UMPG) said, “UMPG fights every day to ensure that creators can be properly recognized and fairly compensated for their work. In partnering with the Music Rights Awareness Foundation and WIPO as part of WIPO for creators, we continue our mission to protect songwriters while increasing transparency around the rights process. Always, I encourage everyone, especially the music and arts community, to stand with us in protecting creators and their intellectual property rights.”
As a sponsor, UMG will help fund the WIPO For Creators “Creator Platform” which is an online platform to support cross-art creators through high-quality interactive “microlearning” videos, featuring well-known creators, and keeping them updated regularly. As well as providing quick answers in the form of text and video to the questions of content creators that appear in real-time.
