Alfons Karabuda

Alfons Karabuda, born 2 December 1967 in Stockholm, Sweden, is a Swedish composer and EU cultural politics personality. Karabuda is the president of ECSA (European Composer and Songwriter Alliance), 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. He is the president of the UNESCO founded IMC (International Music Council), 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 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 organisations have focused on the global issues of artistic rights, free speech and authors' rights (in America, copyright), 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. Karabuda's parents, Günes and Barbro Karabuda, were journalists and filmmakers. 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, Zentropa and Stockholm City Theatre.