In his vlog MEP Francis Zammit Dimech speaks about his work to be the voice of artists. He said that through his work he was ensuring that performers, singers, song writers, musicians, authors and graphic artists in Malta and Gozo will receive a fair remuneration from tech giants for their work, ensuring that users can continue to enjoy more songs, music and content.

“We all want artists such as singers and songwriters to keep creating content which we can enjoy and share with friends. To do this, we need to ensure that they are paid fairly by tech giants and platforms, to ensure sustainability of the sector and that we keep on investing in new talent. We want to make sure that platforms share their profit with creators,” added Zammit Dimech

Zammit Dimech recalled how over the past months he held several meetings with artists. Several Maltese artists such as The Travellers and Joseph Calleja had spoken to him about the importance of EU legislation that will ensure that they are paid fairly. Zammit Dimech said “I was told by a local artist how he received the meagre payment of €60 over the period of a couple of months. This is unacceptable. How can we expect to promote full time careers in culture and the creative sector with such remuneration? Platforms must pay Maltese artists and creators.”

Safeguards were made to ensure teachers will have free access for resources. This law will facilitate the use of publications and data content available online for research purposes (text and data mining), a measure which research centres and universities will benefit from. It will moreover strengthen use of satire through memes, caricatures, gifs and parody. This is an important step to preserve historical and cultural heritage through digitalisation.