Ruth Jakobi: Working for Diversity and Fairness
Advocating for diversity and fair play in commercial music productions
The European Music Council, regional group of the International Music Council, stands for musical diversity, promotes musical rights and supports the fair music initiative.
The Importance of Musical Rights:
- the right for all children and adults to express themselves musically in full freedom;
- the right for all children and adults to learn musical languages and skills;
- the right for all children and adults to have access to musical involvement through participation, listening, creation, and information;
- the right for musical artists to develop their artistry and communicate through all media, with appropriate facilities at their disposal;
- the right for musical artists to obtain fair recognition and remuneration for their work.
Musical Diversity is the most important focus of all EMC actions, which naturally are influenced by more general issues in cultural policy as the “Communication on a European agenda for culture in a globalizing world”, published by the EU Commission on 10 May 2007, the “Year of Intercultural Dialogue 2008” as well as the UNESCO “Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expression”.
In this context, the EMC advocates for diversity and fair play in commercial music productions and encourages decision making bodies at national and EU level to support SMEs (small and medium size enterprises) in music production via their industry programmes.
The “Fair Music” initiative of MICA (Music Information Centre Austria) is strongly supported by the EMC and its partners.
Ruth Jakobi is the secretary general of the European Music Council, a network of music organisations and national music councils in Europe. In this position, which she has since September 2003, she is responsible for several European cooperation projects and for advocacy activities towards cultural policy in Europe. In October 2006, Ruth Jakobi has been elected to the Board of the European Forum for the Arts and Heritage (EFAH).
