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Creators' Income Situation in the Digital Age
Economic Research Working Paper No. 49
The digital transformation imposes both opportunities and risks for creativity and for creative employment, with implications for trends in income levels and the distribution of income. First, we consider skill-biased technological change as a determinant of income and labor market outcomes in the arts. Arguably, the IT revolution has changed the demand for certain skills, with creative occupations being more in demand than general employment. Second, we consider declines in the costs of generating new works and artistic experimentation due to digital technologies, and their effect on the barriers to entry in labor markets. Third, we touch upon the rise of online contract labor in certain creative professions as a determinant of income. Here, online platforms can change creators' access to work opportunities and it may alter the way income is distributed. We find that wage trends for creative workers in the digital age outperform general trends in the population: based on various data sources and various ways to identify creators, we see creators losing less or even gaining a better income position in relative terms. From a policy perspective, results do not lend support to the idea that creators' income situation has systematically worsened with the rise of the internet and its intermediaries. Evidence on changing distributions of income is ambiguous as trends differ from one country to the next.
Publication year: 2018
Intellectual Property and Folk, Arts and Cultural Festivals
Practical Guide
This Guide provides general information about intellectual property (IP) and cultural interests. It identifies the main IP challenges faced by festival organizers and outlines some practical elements of an effective IP management strategy, following a step-by-step approach.
The Economics of Copyright and the Internet: Moving to an Empirical Assessment Relevant in the Digital Era
Economic Research Working Paper No. 9
Technology and the Internet have triggered important changes to how creative works are created and accessed, and how creators and copyright-based industries generate their revenues. The authors reassess the economics of copyright in the light of these changes. After providing an introduction to the economics of copyright, they analyze the changes to the baseline copyright model triggered by the new technological landscape. Then, they assess the empirical economic work on copyright so far, and suggest future avenues of research and related data needs.
Publication year: 2013
An Introduction to the Economics of Collective Management of Copyright and Related Rights
Collective Management as a Business Strategy for Creators
An introduction to the economic theory surrounding collective management of copyright
Publication year: 2016
Accessible Books Consortium:
Bringing books to persons with print disabilities
The Accessible Books Consortium (ABC) is an alliance that comprises WIPO, organizations that serve persons with print disabilities and organizations that represent authors and publishers.
Publication year: 2014
Copyright Collective Management in Music
Presented in the form of a theoretical and practical guide, this posthumous publication by the late Dr. Ulrich Uchtenhagen concerns the stages in the setting-up of a collective management society in the field of music and the society's operation. The work describes the essential activities and mechanisms as well as the fundamental principles required for sound collective management. It provides clear explanations of the complex notions of a system which is essential for authors, composers and music publishers throughout the world who seek protection and wish to be rewarded for their work.
Publication year: 2005
Guide to the Copyright and Related Rights Treaties Administered by WIPO and Glossary of Copyright and Related Rights Terms
This Guide seeks to clarify and explain the legal principles enshrined in the copyright and related rights treaties administered by WIPO, and their relationship with policy, economic, cultural and technological considerations. It will be particularly helpful to governments, creators, businesses, the legal profession, academics, consumers and students in all WIPO Member States.
Publication year: 2004
Marrakesh Treaty to Facilitate Access to Published Works for Persons Who Are Blind, Visually Impaired or Otherwise Print Disabled
The full text of the Marrakesh Treaty to Facilitate Access to Published Works for Persons Who Are Blind, Visually Impaired, or Otherwise Print Disabled.
WIPO Performances and Phonograms Treaty (WPPT)
The Treaty deals with intellectual property rights of two categories of beneficiary: (i) performers (actors, singers, musicians, etc.), and (ii) producers of phonograms (the persons or legal entities who or which take the initiative and have the responsibility for the fixation of the sounds).
Publication year: 1996
WIPO Copyright Treaty (WCT)
The Treaty mentions two subject matters to be protected by copyright, (i) computer programs, whatever may be the mode or form of their expression, and (ii) compilations of data or other material (databases), in any form, which by reason of the selection or arrangement of their contents constitute intellectual creations. Where a database does not constitute such a creation, it is outside the scope of this Treaty.