New Private Copying Global Study highlights the continued importance of private copying remuneration for creators worldwide

Paris - 25 March 2026 - Private copying remuneration remains an important source of income for creators worldwide, even as digital technologies reshape how people access and store creative works. This is one of the key findings of the Private Copying Global Study 2026, published today by the International Confederation of Societies of Authors and Composers (CISAC), in partnership with BIEM (the international organisation representing mechanical rights societies), the International Federation of Reproduction Rights Organisations (IFRRO), and the Dutch private copying organisation Stichting de Thuiskopie.

First published in 2017 and 2020, the 2026 edition of the Private Copying Global Study provides the most comprehensive analysis to date of private copying laws and remuneration frameworks worldwide, examining legal provisions, collection and distribution mechanisms, levy rates and revenues derived from private copying across 196 countries and five global regions. This year's edition includes reprographic rights for the first time, which covers the reproduction of text and images.

Report takeaways

Private copying remuneration compensates creators when individuals make personal copies of music, films, text, images, and other creative works on everyday digital devices such as smartphones, computers and other storage media.

The report confirms that private copying remains an important and reliable source of income for creators worldwide. Despite rapid changes in digital technology and evolving consumer behaviour in accessing and storing content, private copying schemes remain valid, and revenues have been broadly stable for nearly two decades.

The study shows that private copying remuneration generated €1.06 billion for creators worldwide in 2024 while costing each consumer only a few euros per year. Even as device prices and wider cost of living pressures increase, private copying remuneration represents a very small part of the selling price of devices, and a minimal share of annual household expenditure, often less than the price of a cup of coffee per year.

Digital technologies are reshaping private copying

Since the previous global studies on private copying were published (in 2017 and 2020), consumer behaviour has changed dramatically. Smartphones, cloud storage and connected devices now dominate as technologies used for personal copying and need to be included in modern private copying frameworks. The study highlights key court cases and examples of up-to-date systems, while also demonstrating the significant potential for improving private copying remuneration mechanisms and ensure that creators are fairly compensated when their works are copied for personal use, independent of the technology used.

The study also highlights important regional differences. Europe continues to account for the vast majority of private copying revenues, with well-established remuneration mechanisms in many countries. At the same time, significant opportunities remain in other global regions where private copying exceptions exist in copyright law, but remuneration mechanisms are incomplete or not yet implemented.

In Africa, recent regional initiatives such as the UEMOA Directive on private copying remuneration and the collaborative ARIPO regional strategy signal growing policy momentum to strengthen remuneration for creators.

Commenting on the publication, CISAC Director General Gadi Oron said: "Private copying remuneration remains one of the most practical and balanced ways to ensure creators are compensated when their works are copied for personal use. As technologies evolve, legal frameworks must evolve too. This study highlights both the continued value of private copying remuneration and the opportunity for countries to update their frameworks to reflect the digital environment."

President of BIEM, Caroline Champarnaud, praises the good collaboration between three major international organisations and the Dutch private-copying society in preparing this report as a tool to defend creators' revenues. "It is vital to draw on international experience and offer insights into the strengths and challenges of implementing effective private copying systems for the benefit of creators, particularly when the impact on consumers appears minimal."

Secretary General and CEO of IFRRO, Anita Huss-Ekerhult: "This Study demonstrates the important role that private copying and reprography remuneration systems play in supporting a broad creative ecosystem, including the text and image sector. These systems ensure that authors, visual creators, journalists, and publishers, from books and academic journals to newspapers and magazines, receive fair compensation when their works are reproduced for private and personal uses. IFRRO welcomes this more inclusive picture of how private copying remuneration supports a diverse community of authors and rightsholders across the global text and image sector."

Managing Director of Stichting de Thuiskopie, Briene Zijlmans: "Without fair compensation, creativity fades. Private copying systems safeguard the livelihood of creators, while respecting the privacy of consumers when they copy protected works on their devices."

Supporting creators and cultural ecosystems

Beyond direct payments to rightsholders, private copying remuneration also supports broader cultural ecosystems. In more than 20 countries, a portion of private copying revenues is reinvested in cultural and social initiatives, including artist pensions, creative education programmes and cultural projects.

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About CISAC
CISAC - the International Confederation of Societies of Authors and Composers - is the world's leading network of authors' societies, representing more than five million creators across music, audiovisual, dramatic, literary and visual arts repertoires.

About BIEM
BIEM is an international organization gathering authors' societies administering recording and mechanical rights of protected musical works, with a view to the efficient administration of those rights. BIEM represents 59 mechanical rights societies operating in 55 countries. Aside from the negotiation of a standard agreement with the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI), BIEM's role is not only to assist in technical collaboration between its member societies, to help in solving problems that arise between individual members, but also to contribute to the defense and development of copyright protection in the domain of mechanical rights.

About IFRRO
IFRRO is the leading international organization for collective management of text and image-based works. An independent non-profit association, IFRRO brings together more than 160 member organizations from around 90 countries, including Reproduction Rights Organisations (RROs) as well as authors' and publishers' associations. Collectively, they represent millions of authors, visual artists, and publishers of books, journals, newspapers, magazines, and sheet music. IFRRO works to develop and promote effective collective rights management, ensuring that the copyrights of authors and publishers are valued through the lawful and remunerated use of text and image-based works.

About Stichting de Thuiskopie
Stichting de Thuiskopie (Home Copying Foundation) is the private copying collecting society of the Netherlands. Thuiskopie is the sole organization in the Netherlands appointed by the Minister of Justice, to collect the remunerations from importers/manufacturers on media and devices used by consumers for private copying. It distributes the collected private copying remunerations to the organizations representing the entitled rightsholders like composers, lyricists, audiovisual and audio producers, authors of literary-dramatic works, journalists, screenwriters, visual authors, photographers, illustrators, visual artists, performing artists, broadcasters and film directors. The rightsholders are represented in the board of the Foundation.

Media Contacts

Rebecca Webster - Director of Marketing & Communications, [email protected]

Antonios Baris - Legal, Policy, and Technology Counsellor, [email protected]

Roland de Vries - Policy Officer, Stichting de [email protected]

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