First of all, the following text was not written by an artificial intelligence such as ChatGPT or similar pastimes that permeate our existence. At the same time, this is not to deny that I have not recycled some of my earlier thoughts in the text, and I have even quoted selected opinions of others. We all have a similar modus operandi to the ChatGPT or Midjourney tools, not as sophisticated, but we put our words naturally, from the heart, using our own pure intelligence to do so.

I look forward to 2023 with great respect for the entire OSA team, which has traded rights worth CZK 1.44 billion for composers, songwriters and music publishers. If I add to this the items we have collected for the other collective administrators (INTERGRAM, DILIA, OOA-S and OAZA), we have reached the amount of CZK 1.71 billion.

As in the previous year, the strongest source of income for music authors remains radio and television broadcasting, with a collection of CZK 407.6 million and a share of 28.29% of the total collection. If we add the income from broadcasting transmission, we get a total of CZK 600.5 million which is 41.68% of the total collection. Revenues from digital platforms, at CZK 191.3 million and a share of 13.28% lagged behind revenues from music used as background music in restaurants and shops and services and revenues from concerts.

If I look abroad, to the developed markets west of our borders, in Germany, for example, the revenues from digital platforms are already higher than those from broadcasting. Nevertheless, it is fair to say that, together with HDS Croatia, we are the only ones in Central and Eastern Europe able to license multinational digital platforms with our own capacity and at the same time process their reports of music consumption from virtually all EU subscribers.

This year the OSA, originally called the Protective Copyright Association, celebrates its 105th anniversary. Our predecessors, led by Karel Hasler, founded the OSA in 1919 with the aim of creating an economically stable environment and helping to build a music marketplace where composers, songwriters and music publishers receive fair remuneration from those who listen to and use music for their business. Only when royalties reach the creators themselves can we talk about a healthy music ecosystem. Functioning copyright protection not only benefits today's creators and consumers of copyrighted works, but is also an essential foundation for future music creation.

The OSA has come a long way in its 105 years, and it has often been a very bumpy road - the birth pangs of the First Republic, the Second World War, the era of building socialism, the post-revolutionary euphoria and the misunderstanding of the OSA's position in the music business as a relic of the past. All these hardship make us stronger and strengthen our community, despite the dynamic times, both in geopolitical terms and in the face of the phenomenon of artificial intelligence. The confidence of our authors and music publishers is proof of this. Last year alone, 426 authors entrusted us with their rights.

At OSA, we are constantly thinking about ways to improve our systems and services. I believe this is part of a long-term strengthening of our corporate culture, which is build on the foundations of a free environment and the principles of trust, with our employees and authors at the heart of the organisation.

Of course, we are discussing with authors about artificial intelligence and services that try to generate music content. Authors are logically and rightly concerned about their livelihoods. There are many pitfalls and unanswered questions about AI music generation. A unified approach is complicated by the completely inconsistent level of legal protection for artistic and AI creations in different parts of the world.

The most fundamental question is what the algorithms that attempt to generate musical content have been trained on. No one doubts that the vast majority of it is music that has been downloaded from the internet without the consent of the authors and artists. I'm not afraid to say that they have literally stolen decades of musical achievement, talent and diligence from artists and authors all over the world.

Even the use of these services has its pitfalls. While what is generated by AI may not be copyrighted, the audio recording remains the property of the service. This is a risk for both authors and users who want to generate their own music content for their business. Not to mention the fact that AI can quite brazenly start generating plagiarised music .

Students at HAMU in Prague describe creative activity in an interesting way in their discussions about AI. Even a musical instrument is a certain "program" from which we choose certain options in the realisation of a work. A computer program in a general position is nothing but a "tool".

So we're trying to get to know AI from the inside. We have started a cooperation with a Czech start-up to study the pitfalls of AI creativity, but also its potential for authors. I think there is no reason for authors and artists to panic, but there is a need for an effective legal framework. The music industry has its own specificities. As David Bowie once said, 'The music industry is different because its product is available for free'.

Art is a form of recycling and mutually inspiring economy based on copying. Despite various destructive forces, such as the almost infinite access to music on the Internet, hits still survive. That's why they find their place in the interaction with artificial intelligence.

You will forgive me if I repeat my thoughts from last year's Yearbook. Artificial intelligence and its tools will penetrate the space of music creation. It is likely that we will be overwhelmed by various attempts to create music based on a simple brief. We may see a tsunami of such "would-be music" without human authorial input. People will literally be overwhelmed by a mass of different sounds. But I personally think that this will be a crucial moment for the eruption that will bring back to the surface again music in its pure form, music full of life, the catharsis of the human soul, in short, music created with a significant contribution of the human being.

I am not worried about music written by man, it will always find its dignified place and its listeners. Perhaps it will be music that imprints the human soul and spirit on the artificial one in a sustainable symbiosis. New technologies, combined with the human soul and emotions, may offer an even more colourful world and a new dimension of original music creation. And we at OSA will be ready to offer composers, lyricists and music publishers a modern service for the 21st century.