On 2 April 2020, the Court of Justice of the European Union (“CJEU”) rendered a judgment (C-753/18) in which the much-discussed concept of “communication to the public”, relevant for copyright-protected works in the EU, is further elucidated. 

To refresh our minds, the right to authorise or prohibit any communication to the public of copyright protected works, such as songs, exclusively belongs to the author and the performer (e.g. the songwriter, the producer, the singer and the musician) (articles 3(1) of Directive 2001/29/EC and 8(1) Directive 2006/115/EC). Performers and producers must be equitably remunerated for the communication to the public of their songs (article 8(2) of Directive 2006/115/EC). It is thus extremely important to be well aware of what is and what is not considered as a communication to the public.