I. INTRODUCTION: COVID-19 AND ONLINE ENTERTAINMENT CULTURE
The new world order shaped under the umbrella of the Covid-19 epidemic is called the "new normal". The new normal means that sharing the same office without meeting in the physically, watching movies on online platforms instead of going to the cinema, online audience or visitor acceptance of concert halls, museums, libraries, and that our daily life is distant in the physical field and closer in the digital world.
The emergence of the Covid-19 epidemic and the fact that it affected the whole world in a very short time and caused serious deaths, resulted in the transition of individuals from social life to home life.
The transition to home life has also caused the diversification of online entertainment culture and the number of members of the platforms that spread this culture to multiply in a record way. While individuals had to go to entertainment environments in order to access those before the developments in communication tools, as a result of the developments in mass media such as cinema and television, the people have found the opportunity to access entertainment from their own places. Especially with the internet, entertainment can spread to a wide audience in a global village.
The culture of listening music has been taking digital platforms by storm for a long time after being stripped of records and CDs. In this context, it should be noted that the number of members of digital music platforms has increased to 358 million subscribers as of 2019. This increase means 32% growth compared to the previous year. It is estimated that this number is going to reach 700 million subscribers with the pandemic. When we look at the subscription numbers, the industry leader is "spotify" with a rate of 35%. It is followed by "Apple Music" with a share of 19%, followed by "Amazon Music" in the third place.
On the other hand, Netflix increased its number of users and recorded record high growth during the pandemic and increased the number of subscribers to 182.9 million subscribers.
In addition, 2020 Istanbul Film Festival has been held online for the first time in our country due to the pandemic.
With the organization of virtual tours and its increasingly continuing, it has become possible to reach local and international libraries, museums and exhibition halls from your home.
In addition to all these, the entertainment formats prepared by individuals without being affiliated with any production company have also had the opportunity to reach large audiences in social media such as Instagram and YouTube.
II. COPYRIGHT ISSUES IN DIGITAL PLATFORMS
Increasing the dominance of digital platforms day by day causes the issue of copyright protection to be re-evaluated. Therefore, it is of great importance that the provisions of the work agreement signed between the authors and producers to be built on the basis of digital platforms which will be growing even more in the coming years. The borders drawn in terms of digital platforms regarding the works subject to financial right transfer should be reconsidered for both authors and producers.
For example, if the transfer of financial rights is regulated to giving consent regarding publication of the work only in Turkey, it should be kept in mind that it is not possible to publish outside from here.
On the other hand, if the work is only allowed to be published in certain languages, it is not going to be possible to publish in terms of any other world language on online platforms other than those which are allowed.
Likewise, if all rights of the work are transferred at once and there is no restriction on the amount of the audience the work reaches, any financial right will not be obtained even if the work reaches a record audience.
While the chance of reaching "followers" on a global scale brought by digital broadcasting increase the possibility of the authors to reach different audiences in different countries, it is going to lead to the emergence of sales markets on a global scale for producers.
For example, during the pandemic, Turkish TV shows reached The United States of America by crossing the borders of the country and even received proposals from people living there to shoot new episodes. Therefore, one of the issues to be considered is what kind of copyright income partnership will be ensured between the author and the producer in terms of the incomes to be obtained if the work is viewed abroad on digital platforms.
Law No. 5846 on Intellectual and Artistic Works which is the main legal text in terms of copyright agreements, does not contain an article that regulates digital platforms in itself. Considering the fact that the law has been adopted in 1951, this situation is quite natural.
However, it should not be forgotten that the Article 25 of the Law titled "(e) Right to Communicate a Work to Public by Devices Enabling the Transmission of Signs, Sounds and/or Images:" is regulated as:
"The author shall have the exclusive right to communicate the original of a work or its copies to public by way of broadcasting by organizations that broadcast by wire or wireless means such as radio and television, satellite or cable, or by devices enabling the transmission of signs, sounds and/or images including digital transmission, or by way of re-broadcasting by other broadcasting organizations that obtain the work from such broadcasts. The author has the right to permit or prohibit the sale or other distribution or supply of the work or its reproduced copies to the public by wire or wireless devices and the communication of the work to the public by providing access to it at a time and place chosen by natural persons. The distribution and supply of works by means of communication to the public as regulated under this article, shall not prejudice the author's right of distribution."
Based on the text of the article, it is possible to say that the legislator has clearly ruled that the only authorized person in terms of the right to publish the work in digital media is the owner of the work. Therefore, in digital publications that will diversify within the scope of developing technological infrastructure, it should not be overlooked that the priority right owner is the owner of the work and copyright contracts should be shaped from this point.
III. CONCLUSION
Within the scope of the findings we have made so far, we see that the new world order has increased the demand for online entertainment culture at a record level. For this reason, the main focus of copyright agreements that will take shape with the pandemic process will be digital publication rights from now on.
When defining these rights, it is of great importance which platforms these rights will be valid in as well as which countries they will cover. While drawing the borders of these rights, necessary arrangements should be made to determine whether a border to be drawn in terms of language, audience number, broadcast time and date.
On the other hand, it is essential to reshape the regulations on how and in what way the copyright incomes will be shared in terms of digital rights transferred in work contracts. It should not be forgotten that in the new world order, movie theaters have been replaced by online movie platforms, concert halls have been replaced by YouTube and Instagram live broadcasts. Therefore, how and in what way the copyrights incomes from these channels will be shared appear as an important effect of the pandemic process on copyright agreements.
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.
