One of the first global initiatives to take account of the changes in artistic labour markets was the 1980 benchmark Recommendation on the Status of the Artist, signed by countries from around the world at the UNESCO General Conference in Belgrade. The Recommendation included “an overall definition of the artist and specified the conditions in which artists can exist as creative workers”.

Since then, very few countries have translated these proposals into national, regional or local laws. This may be due, in part, to the lack of operational definitions that relate directly to the different national cultural policy, social and taxation frameworks. It may also be seen as a result of the profound changes in the working practices of artists, fuelled partly by new communication technologies and the emergence of the ‘culture industries’ or ‘creative industries’, which operate largely outside of the influence of governments (cf. Research in Focus section).

The research resources presented in this collection describe, discuss and monitor the legal frameworks that influence the professional, economic and social status of artists in Europe. Some of the studies propose reforms that could be carried out in the context of EU harmonisation activities. Others call upon policy makers to take into consideration issues of artists’ mobility, which has markedly increased in the ‘European Cultural Space’.

Intellectual rights and copyright

Another line of debate is in the field of intellectual rights or copyright. Three different perspectives are represented in this collection of resources:

• Representatives of copyright licensing bodies and artists' organisations propose to amend existing legislation as a means to address the challenges posed to artists’ rights in the digital age.
• New and alternative models are presented by groups such as the ‘Creative Commons’.
• A third perspective calls for a total abolition of what are considered ‘anachronistic’ copyright laws. Advocates of this approach do not see how artists’ and authors’ rights can be protected through slight amendments to existing copyright law, described as: “one of the most commercial instruments of the 21st century”.