The chances of the Italian parliament passing the much-awaited Music
Bill appear to have improved.
Pietro Folena, member of parliament and president of the parliamentary culture commission, has officially presented his report on the subject to the commission.
Folena’s report outlined a series of proposals for a law, including the model suggested by Andrea Colasio, member of parliament for the center-left government coalition.
“Colasio’s Bill” has been actively supported by the music industry.
The main measures in it include the setting-up of a French-style export office to help promote Italian music abroad; a series of tax breaks on money invested by labels in first and second albums by new artists; a formal definition of music as a form of “culture” rather than just industrial production (which would lead to lower sales taxes); giving video clips the same recognition and tax treatment as “short movies”; and financial incentives for the digitization of labels’ catalogs.
Italy’s music industry has been campaigning for a Music Bill for several years. FIMI stepped up first, followed by Tavola Della Musica (Music Round Table) – an umbrella group consisting of FIMI, AFI, indie groups PMI and Audiocoop, and live-music organization Assomusica.
