Forthcoming · Bristol University Press · 2026
“The digital economy runs on our labour. It’s time to share the value.”
Early praise
“This exceptional book stands apart by offering a holistic and innovative analysis of creative value chains, bridging copyright and contract law with interdisciplinary, practice-based knowledge.”
“Essential read for creative industry professionals in music, visual arts and gaming, offering concrete political, legal and technological solutions to get creators paid and build fairer digital futures.”
“A must read for those who want to understand the complexities of today’s vivid debate on ‘copyright grappling with GenAI’, and to design possible solutions that pay attention to the various interests, markets constraints and policy objectives behind this legacy institution.”
“A masterpiece for anyone active in the creative industries, offering a unique toolkit for policymakers and individuals committed to improving value distribution and artists’ working conditions, while fostering cultural diversity and human creativity.”
“An essential contribution to contemporary debates on cultural production. Creative Value Chains is authored by someone whose solid academic and legal expertise is matched by first-hand experience as a musician, offering a lucid and critical analysis of platform power and the multiple layers that shape creative markets.”
The book
Creative industries are increasingly dominated by digital platforms, yet the distribution of value within these sectors — from music and video games to visual arts — remains deeply unequal.
Recent examples include the remuneration of artists on streaming platforms and the use of creative works in AI training data. This imbalance threatens human creativity and cultural diversity.
In this book, Benhamou exposes the flaws in current models of value allocation and the inequities embedded within copyright systems. Focusing on the often-overlooked contributors to creative works, the book advocates rethinking copyright through a lens of distributive justice to ensure equitable compensation for all stakeholders in the creative process — individual creators, invisible workers and digital workers alike.
Press
Transforming Society — Academic Blog
“Digital platforms increasingly cannibalise the value generated by human creativity — from sharing platforms (TikTok) to streaming services (Spotify) and AI models (ChatGPT). A new framework is needed to ensure fairer value distribution across the creative economy.”
Issue Magazine — HEAD Geneva
“An executive summary of the book, which addresses the growing concentration of value in the digital and AI age — particularly the value derived from creative and intellectual labour within the creative economy.”
Le Monde
“We are becoming slaves to the machine, which uses us as a labour force. We should develop new models for sharing value — for example through data cooperatives that negotiate with platforms and redistribute compensation to internet users, similar to copyright management organisations.”
Book launches
Book talks and a unique Law by Music performance–lecture across Europe and North America.
Observatoire des Politiques Culturelles
Book talk
Downtown Studio
“Law by Music” performance–lecture
Dates to be confirmed
North America book tour
Watch
A short clip explaining the book project: key messages, methods and potential impact.
© direction Manu Zirnheld · interview Margot Voisin · conceptualization Gloria Gaggioli
Using live music and AI-generated visuals, Benhamou illustrates the legal and ethical challenges of creativity today: authorship boundaries between humans and AI, training data, and remuneration in the algorithmic era.
Dan and the Dynamite × AI Visuals · Montreux Jazz Festival 2025 · © Tristan Audeoud & Sebastien Bourquin
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Buy now
Available in hardback, paperback and open-access digital editions.