Europe’s rightsholders need to embrace ‘digital disruption’ to help shape the future of the online marketplace, a technology expert has said.
Antony Walker, deputy chief executive officer at techUK, made the comments during a Westminster Media Forum seminar exploring EU copyright reform and the digital single market.
During an opening address, he said: ‘We all know that digital disruption changes almost everything it touches. In particular, music rightsholders have been massively impacted by the change in digital over the last 15 years. That process has not been easy, it’s been challenging for some, painful for some and has required some difficult changes to be made.’
However, Antony was keen to state that digital disruption is now taking place and is impossible to avoid.
‘I believe if we are to take a leadership position and embrace this change and work with it, then there we have a massive opportunity to shape this change - as a society and economy we can try shape the digital revolution to meet our needs, and not be shaped by it,’ he stated.
Antony suggested that the UK was one of the leaders when it came to tech in Europe.
Almost half of Europe’s ‘tech unicorns’ (companies that have reached a $1bn (£650m) valuation or higher are from the UK.
Antony Walker, deputy chief executive officer at techUK, made the comments during a Westminster Media Forum seminar exploring EU copyright reform and the digital single market.
During an opening address, he said: ‘We all know that digital disruption changes almost everything it touches. In particular, music rightsholders have been massively impacted by the change in digital over the last 15 years. That process has not been easy, it’s been challenging for some, painful for some and has required some difficult changes to be made.’
However, Antony was keen to state that digital disruption is now taking place and is impossible to avoid.
‘I believe if we are to take a leadership position and embrace this change and work with it, then there we have a massive opportunity to shape this change - as a society and economy we can try shape the digital revolution to meet our needs, and not be shaped by it,’ he stated.
Antony suggested that the UK was one of the leaders when it came to tech in Europe.
Almost half of Europe’s ‘tech unicorns’ (companies that have reached a $1bn (£650m) valuation or higher are from the UK.
