Cooperatives in Artistic Fields and Movements to Amendment of Copyright Law
Cooperatives in the various fields have increased since when the basic law of cooperatives implemented and the social interest in it has gained. The number of cooperatives is increasing in cultural and artistic fields as well.
The film industry has been suffering from a serious issue with distribution. Blockbuster films are only 10% of all releases, but they occupied 57% of screens. The rest films which can’t unspool in the major cinemas, have to compete fiercely.
Due to this situation, it affects film production. The average monthly income of the workers is only $391.
To solve the problems, a film cooperative is established. The cooperative mainly focuses on distribution. They distribute films that don’t have a chance to show for regions by cooperating small theater and civil programs. Furthermore, they are trying to make films which they invest, product and distribute by themselves.
According to the “2012 the Status of Cultural artists” researched by the Ministry of Culture, 66.5% of Artists have a fixed monthly income of less than 863$, and 26% of them answered that they do not have fixed income so had to work part-time jobs at the same time. The “Art cooperative” was established in 2013 to solve the livelihood issues the artists have.
In the cooperatives, Artists from 20s and 70s interact and share their experience. Furthermore, they proceed with projects by cooperating people and institution. For example, they renovated empty space such as closed school area, use the space as a working area and run some programs in a small village. The cooperatives also operate “UFO Artshop for introducing their works.
We can find cooperatives in the Music industry as well. In 2013, one of musician pointed out that unfair music distribution structure led by major mobile companies infringes the diversity of music and producer’s right. The musical cooperative is established as lots of people agreed with him.
The Korean music market has declined since ‘MP3’ had emerged. The profit of musicians has decreased and the market lost its balance as music distributions service platforms set a low amount for streaming service and implemented dumping strategies. The musicians have been making money from various performances since they couldn’t live with their music income in this market structure.
Situations are getting cruel for the creators. Last November, a legislative bill for the Copyright Act were proposed to solve this problem. To overcome this inadequate environment, some amendments to the Copyright Act were proposed.
The bill aims to improve and develop the cultural industries by improving the reality which there is no rightful reward, protecting the rights of creative labor and their environments and expending the legitimate use of copyrighted works and the base of creators. We will all have to pay attention to solve the problems and to provide better environments for creators.
Reference: http://www.gokams.or.kr
