The following statement was ratified at the International Federation of Musicians conference on online music, held in Budapest on Nov. 20 and Nov. 21, 2014. It has become known as the Budapest Declaration:

Online music services have transformed the music industry, but performing artists are not getting their proportionate share from revenues.

Modern legislation gives performing artists the right to authorize the making available of their performances on the Internet or other networks, and to be remunerated for such use.

The remuneration of performing artists for such use of their contribution should be fair, proportional to its value and in balance with other contributors. A 50-50 sharing of online revenues with record producers certainly meets these criteria. Currently, this is far from being the case. The share performing artists receive from online uses is neither fair, nor proportional to its value, nor balanced with other contributors.

This situation must be remedied. New frameworks must be imagined, developed and promoted in order to establish an environment that is as fair to performers as to the other parties concerned, including consumers.

To this end, the participants of the FIM conference on online music held in Budapest on Nov. 20 and Nov. 21, 2014 call upon performers and their representatives to join them in creating the widest possible coalition of artists aiming to achieve fair, proportional and balanced remuneration for the online use of their performances by all appropriate means supported by their community.

For more information about the campaign, see www.50-percent-for-performers.org.