Alfons Karabuda, born 2 December 1967 in

Stockholm Stockholm (; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, most populous city of Sweden, as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in the Nordic countries. Approximately ...

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

, is a

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

composer and EU cultural politics personality. Karabuda is the president of ECSA (

European Composer and Songwriter Alliance European, or Europeans, may refer to: In general * ''European'', an adjective referring to something of, from, or related to Europe ** Ethnic groups in Europe ** Demographics of Europe ** European cuisine, the cuisines of Europe and other West ...

), executive chairman of SKAP (the Swedish Association of Composers, Songwriters & Lyricists) and expert in the field of artistic rights to the

UN Human Rights Council The United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) is a United Nations body whose mission is to promote and protect human rights around the world. The Council has 47 members elected for staggered three-year terms on a regional group basis. The ...

. He is the president of the

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...

founded IMC (

International Music Council The International Music Council (IMC) was created in 1949 as UNESCO's advisory body on matters of music. The original request of the foundation of the IMC was under the Director of the UNESCO. It is based at UNESCO's headquarters in Paris, France, ...

), member of the board of The Royal College of Music in Stockholm, Musiksverige (Music Sweden) and STIM (The Swedish Performing Rights Society) and Svensk Musik (Swedish Music). Karabuda is also chair of the

Polar Music Prize The Polar Music Prize is a Swedish international award founded in 1989 by Stig Anderson, best known as the manager of the Swedish band ABBA, with a donation to the Royal Swedish Academy of Music. The award is annually given to one contemporary ...

Award. As expert to the UN Human Rights Council, Karabuda was part of producing the first ever UNHRC report on artistic rights in 2013. The report was followed by new reports during 2014. As the president of ECSA, Karabuda has been a driving force in getting the EU to decide on the new Copyright Directive in 2019 and the formation of a European–American collaboration between the music creator organisations ECSA and SGA (

Songwriters Guild of America The Songwriters Guild of America (SGA) is an American organization created to "advance, promote, and benefit" the profession of songwriters. It was founded in 1931 as the Songwriters Protective Association by Billy Rose, George W. Meyer and Edgar L ...

). The organisations have focused on the global issues of artistic rights,

free speech Freedom of speech is a principle that supports the freedom of an individual or a community to articulate their opinions and ideas without fear of retaliation, censorship, or legal sanction. The right to freedom of expression has been recognise ...

and

authors' rights "Authors' rights" is a term frequently used in connection with Intellectual property, laws about intellectual property. The term is considered as a direct translation of the French language, French term (also German language, German ). It was fi ...

(in

America The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

copyright A copyright is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the exclusive legal right to copy, distribute, adapt, display, and perform a creative work, usually for a limited time. The creative work may be in a literary, artistic, ...

), in joint actions such as the Fair Trade Music Initiative and 2019 making promoting a legal entity with authors in governance to administer online mechanical rights in the US. As a member of the executive board of STIM, and during 2014 as acting CEO, Karabuda has focused on developing international strategy, improving distribution systems and adjusting the organization to the new EU directive on

collective rights management Collective rights management is the licensing of copyright and related rights by organisations acting on behalf of rights owners. Collective management organisations (CMOs), sometimes also referred to as collecting societies, typically represen ...

. Karabuda's parents, Günes and Barbro Karabuda, were journalists and

filmmakers Filmmaking or film production is the process by which a motion picture is produced. Filmmaking involves a number of complex and discrete stages, beginning with an initial story, idea, or commission. Production then continues through screenwritin ...

. His sister Denize Karabuda is an actor and director. The Karabuda children grew up traveling during their parents' many assignments, to which Karabuda himself credits his cultural political involvement. Karabuda works in the areas of TV, film and theatre through his publishing company Naomi Musikförlag & Filmproduktion. Among his customers are SVT, SR,

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

Zentropa Zentropa, or Zentropa Entertainments, is a Danish film company started in 1992 by director Lars von Trier and producer Peter Aalbæk Jensen. Zentropa is named after the train company Zentropa in the film '' Europa'' (1991), which started the co ...

and

Stockholm City Theatre Stockholm City Theatre () is a live performance theatre located in Stockholm, Sweden. The theatre is situated near the Sergel fountain and the Stockholm City roundabout. Location It is located in one of Stockholm's most popular public buildi ...

Human rights

Karabuda is the president of ECSA, joint to Biggest International campaign Freemuse for Iranian musician

Mehdi Rajabian Mehdi Rajabian (; born October 1989) is an Iranian composer and musician. He was imprisoned for pursuing illegal musical activities in 2013 and 2015. In 2019, he released the album ''Middle Eastern'' in collaboration with a number of other Middl ...

and filmmaker

Hossein Rajabian Hossein Rajabian (; born 5 July 1984) is an Iranian filmmaker, writer and photographer who was imprisoned as a political prisoner in 2015 on charges related to his filmmaking. He is an anti-censorship filmmaker and defender of freedom of speech ...

, he was signed by the following of the ARJ group.

"Spring party" bribery charges

Since the thirties Skap and affiliated musical organisations has invited members and Stockholm cultural workers and stakeholders to what has been commonly known as "spring parties", where prizes were awarded, live music performed and food and drinks served. In 2014,

Sveriges Radio Sveriges Radio Aktiebolag, AB (; "Sweden's Radio") is Sweden's national publicly funded radio programming, radio broadcaster. Sveriges Radio is a public limited company, owned by an independent foundation, previously funded through a television ...

broadcast a program about a series of Christmas and spring parties organised by Skap and FST, and made a case that the parties were designed to influence decision makers within Swedish cultural politics and institutions. Alfons Karabuda and six other Swedish cultural personalities was thus accused of bribing the public officials who chose to attend the parties and was cleared of all charges by a unanimous Tingsrätt, which moved the case to

Svea Hovrätt Svea Court of Appeal (), located in Stockholm, is one of six appellate courts in the Swedish legal system, as well as the oldest Swedish court currently in use (the Supreme Court being constituted only in 1789, over 150 years later). It is loca ...

where a divided court in October 2018 convicted Karabuda and FST executive chairman

Martin Q Larsson Martin Q Larsson, born 3 May 1968 in Trollhättan, Sweden, is a Swedish composer, musician, The case was consequently appealed to the Högsta Domstolen (Supreme Court of Sweden) where a formal appeal was granted on the 22 of May 2019 and on the 17 of March 2020 the Supreme Court answered and the stated fact that the events are not to be considered undue benefits. The Supreme Court ruled that no crime was committed and that the prosecuted individuals and organisations are completely exonerated and that all legal costs are to be paid by the government.

Selected projects

Television *''Bookmark Childhood'' –

*''LinSilk Road/Turqoise'' – NOS TV3 *''The World Heritage Expedition'' – NOS TV3 *''Desert’s Blue Eye, Aral'' – Academy Production *''AuDeLá de l'Lointaine'' – E.G.E TV Film *''Fruen på Hamre'' –

*''Violbukten'' – SFI/Filmteknik/Oberon & Son *''Skyernes Skygge Rammer Mig'' –

*''Helten Henning'' – Arena Film Theatre *''Stora landsvägen'' –

*''Toten Insel'' –

*''Dickie Harding'' –

*''Förhör 63-11'' –

*''Häxorna'' –

References

External links

MusicWeek: "Alfons Karabuda named new acting STIM CEO"

Billboard Magazine: "STIM Appoints New Acting CEO"

* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20150414191632/http://freemuse.org/archives/2056 Freemuse: "Freedom of Speech debated on Creators Conference"
EFN TV: "The Swedish Music Wonder"

Sweden Abroad – Ministry for Foreign Affairs: "Dancing on the (Glass) Ceiling"

UN Human Rights Council: The right to freedom of artistic expression and creativity (A/HRC/23/34)

MyNewsdesk: "Alfons Karabuda to EU Presidency: 'Strong rights for the individual creator is key'"

MyNewsdesk/Sounds in Europe: "Our Digital Agenda for Europe"

Content is King - official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Karabuda, Alfons 1967 births Swedish composers Swedish male composers Living people People convicted of corruption Musicians from Stockholm