CISAC, the worldwide commerce group for copyright gathering societies, has a brand new Chair, with APRA AMCOS CEO Dean Ormston elected into the function.
Introduced on Thursday (Might 29), Ormston is just the second Australian to carry the title in CISAC’s 99-year historical past, along with his APRA AMCOS predecessor Brett Cottle having beforehand served within the function from 2006 till 2010.
Ormston brings greater than twenty years of expertise within the fields of music rights administration, coverage and advocacy to his new appointment. Since 2018, he’s served because the CEO of Australia and New Zealand’s music rights administration group APRA AMCOS, which represents greater than 124,000 songwriters, composers and publishers.
“Being elected Chair of the CISAC Board at such a pivotal second for creators worldwide is an honour,” Ormston mentioned in a press release. “Because the inventive financial system enters a brand new period formed by AI and world digitalisation, the chance to safe a good and thriving future for creators has by no means been higher.
“Creators are central to the cultural, social and financial cloth of each nation. Every nation has a accountability to nurture its personal cultural voices by making certain a powerful copyright framework and enabling creators to share within the worth generated by improvements similar to Generative AI.”
Ormston’s famous concentrate on making certain a fairer future for creatives within the present AI-focused local weather comes simply over a yr after he was named as one of many 20 leaders from the inventive industries and academia invited to affix the Steering Committee of the Attorney-General’s Copyright and Artificial Intelligence Reference Group (CAIRG).
APRA AMCOS have themselves been famous voices within the Generative AI debate, releasing their AI and Music report in August 2024 which targeted on the advantages and considerations going through creators in Australia and New Zealand. In the meantime, CISAC carried out their very own world examine in December which re-iterated worldwide requires credit score, consent and truthful remuneration for songwriters and composers.
As newly-elected Chair of CISAC, Ormston takes over from Marcelo Castello Branco, the CEO of Brazil’s UBC, who has occupied the function for six years. Ormston is joined by Jennifer Brown, CEO of Canada’s SOCAN, who has been re-elected for a second time period as Vice-Chair, and VG Bild-Kunst director normal City Pappi, who has been elected as Vice-Chair for the primary time.
Based in France in 1926, CISAC has been presided over by Swedish singer, songwriter, and ABBA co-founder Björn Ulvaeus since 2020, taking on from French composer Jean Michel Jarre after he had spent a seven-year stint within the prime job.
“CISAC’s world community is uniquely positioned to amplify the voice of those creators to decision-makers internationally,” Ormston added. “I look ahead to working with the brand new Board and your entire CISAC neighborhood to champion creators’ rights, additional develop our providers, and empower societies and their members to guide on this quickly altering world market.”