WSA Film Music Days 2025 - Negotiating in the Dark: The Composer's Contract

Composers are increasingly pressured to sign away their rights in exchange for a one-off payment - a deal that may leave them without significant future royalties and with little control over how their music is exploited. In this Creators’ Talk, Valerie Dobbelaere, Johan van der Voet, and Harriet Moss enter into a debate, moderated by Sarah Glennane, to come to grips with what is at stake for individual composers and the broader ecosystem involving publishers and producers. What can composers do to better protect their rights? This talk is organised in collaboration with the European Composer and Songwriter Alliance (ECSA) and supported by Creative Europe.