71 Performers’ moral interests

Submitted by Musicians’ Union

Article 27 (2) of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights states that ‘everyone has the right to the protection of the moral and material interests resulting from any scientific, literary or artistic production of which he is the author.’

Moral interests define the right to be recognised as the author and/or performer of the work but also the right to object to use of the work in situations which contravene the beliefs and morals of the author/performer. Two recent examples have highlighted the poor protection of performers’ moral interests in this country – the sale of CDs through the BNP’s website and the use of music as part of torture processes. In both cases, the performers had no legal right of objection.

The possible uses of a recorded performance have exploded in recent years due to the development of digital technologies. Therefore Congress asks the General Council to join the lobby for a higher level protection for performers in order to enable them to exercise control over how their recordings are being used.