经过长时间与病魔的斗争，英国歌手、词曲作家、国际作者作曲者协会联合会主席Robin Gibb先生于2012年5月20日周日晚间逝世，享年62岁。他与他的兄弟Barry和Maurice共同组成的乐队The Bee Gees，是流行音乐史上最成功的创作团队。同时，在过去五年担任CISAC主席的日子里，Robin Gibb作为CISAC分布于121个国家的232个会员协会的领导者，也始终不知疲倦地致力于代表全世界三百万词曲作者发出他们的声音。他热衷于利用自己作为CISAC主席与世界著名流行音乐词曲作者的双重身份，呼吁全球范围内的政策制定者支持和重视词曲作者的权利，并努力推广和肯定音乐作品著作权的价值。
2010年6月，在结束了作为CISAC主席的第一任期之后，他又以全票通过的成绩毫无争议地获得了连任，开始了他的又一次三年任期。与此同时，Gibb 表示：“CISAC主席这一职务对我来说意义很大，这是因为作为一名词曲作者，我是集体管理制度的忠实信徒。当前整个娱乐界的发展正处于一个十字路口，我希望在新的任期内以更加与时俱进的方式，建立并发展一套适用于数字时代的权利管理体制，这种体制既可以满足公众通过便捷渠道获取音乐的要求，又可以使每个词曲作者的权利和利益得到保障，包括在使用他们作品时所应支付的合理对价。”
法国著名画家、CISAC副主席Hervé Di Rosa向Gibb表达敬意，他说：“Robin Gibb为实现词曲作者的诉求所表现的执着与热情的精神，将永远与我们同在！我们会永远想念我们的朋友，CISAC也会永远想念他的领导者。”
CISAC理事长Kenth Muldin表示：“在Robin过去担任我们的主席、为CISAC向全世界发出声音的五年日子里，我们由始至终都被他的工作和极具感染性热情所笼罩着，他对待自己的工作非常严谨，这让我觉得，无论何时，当词曲作者的利益受到损害时，都可以依靠他。我谨代表CISAC及全世界创作者大家庭对Robin的光辉领导表达最崇高的敬意，并对他的离世向他的妻子Dwina和家庭表示深深的哀悼。我们会无限地怀念他：怀念他的激情和为广大词曲作者所做出的一切，更重要的是，我会永远怀念与他之间深厚的友谊。”
CISAC总干事Oliveier Hinnewinke介绍Robin Gibb先生为维护音乐词曲作者权益的事迹如下：
全球创作者大家庭以及CISAC所有人都为Robin Gibb的去世深深地感到震惊和悲痛。作为一个伟大的音乐创作者和艺术家，Robin Gibb在世界上享有盛名。但他作为一个创作者利益的捍卫者却不为人所知。对为了权利人利益而奋斗的事业，他从不吝啬他的时间，一直不停奔波。
在他任CISAC主席期间，Gibb坚决地维护版权制度，在那些大公司或政府辩称版权扼杀了商业发展时，他都会站出来予以回击。他的介入通常为全球新闻带来了亮点，并且经常影响政策的变更。
Robin Gibb最后一次参加CISAC官方活动是在2011年6月世界版权峰会上。在他发言的最后，他说，“支撑创作产业的是创作者，他们本身应该被珍视、培养”，尔后，他辛酸地补充说道，“只要我尚有一丝气在，我将一直为权利人的利益而奋斗！”
2009年在华盛顿召开的世界版权峰会上，Gibb曾发出警告，“版权保护不会阻碍发展。它反而是发展、创新、交流的推动因素。强有力的版权的存在不会像谷歌、微软和其他公司说的那样会扼杀数字时代乌托邦世界的发展。版权制度将推动这种发展。若没有版权，你将置身一个混沌的世界，这才是发展的瓶颈。”
正是由于2009年4月Gibb的介入，克罗地亚政府放弃了一个将会严重降低饭店、餐厅和其他餐饮部门交纳的版税的计划。2009年11月Gibb的一封信使智利总统否决了一项损害版权的法案。
Gibb还反对2008年欧盟的一项指责著作权集体管理协会限制竞争的决议，他同时还批评中国广播组织拖延支付音乐作品广播权版税和塞尔维亚国家广播组织RTS拒绝缴纳版税的行为。
2010年6月，一段视频表现出Gibb与巴西词曲作者和著作权集体管理协会团结一致，敦促政府当局抵制关于极大损害词曲作者权益的版权法的改革方案。在2010和2011年两年里，Gibb坚决支持印度版权法改革，从而保护音乐作者和电影制片人的权益。在他生命最后的几个小时里，Robin Gibb非常高兴地知道了印度参议院已经通过了版权法案，这意味着印度的词曲作者的权益将被认可。
我们向国际作者作曲者协会联合会主席（CISAC）、词曲创作者权利的一代代言人和永不停歇的捍卫者——Robin Gibb先生，表示最崇高的敬意，对于Robin Gibb先生的去世表示深深的悲恸。
CISAC pays tribute to its President Robin Gibb, the voice of a generation and relentless champion for the rights of creators
CISAC, the International Confederation of Societies of Authors and Composers, has expressed its deep sadness at the news that its President, British singer and songwriter Robin Gibb, has passed away.
PARIS – 21/05/2012 – Robin Gibb died in the night of Sunday 20 May 2012, at the age of 62, after fighting a long-term illness. Alongside his brothers Barry and Maurice, performing as The Bee Gees, he was part of one of the most successful songwriting teams in the history of pop music. As President of CISAC for the past five years, Robin Gibb was also the tireless voice of three million creators around the world as the leader of the members of CISAC’s 232 authors’ societies in 121 countries. He enthusiastically used his position as President of the organisation and as one of the world’s most popular songwriters to persuade global policy makers to support creators and promote and uphold the value of copyright.
Following a first term as president, Gibb was unanimously re-elected for an additional three-year mandate in June 2010. At the time, Gibb said, “The presidency of CISAC is a role that means a great deal to me because, as a songwriter, I am a passionate believer in the collective management of rights by authors' societies. While the entire entertainment sector is at a crossroads, I want to leverage this new mandate to help develop a management rights system that is sustainable in the digital age, a system that meets public demand for easy access to all our works while preserving the rights and interests of everyone, including fair payment for creators to use their works.'
Paying tribute to Gibb, French painter and CISAC Vice-President Hervé Di Rosa said, “The spirit of Robin Gibb’s commitment and passion towards the authors’ cause will stay alive in us all. We will miss our friend, and the CISAC creative community will miss its leader.”
Kenth Muldin, Chairman of CISAC’s Board of Directors, commented, “Robin has been our President and the voice of CISAC for the past five years and throughout this period we have been blessed by his presence and his infectious enthusiasm. He took his role very seriously – we knew we could count on him whenever the principles of authors’ rights were under attack. On behalf of CISAC, and in the name of the whole creative community that he so brilliantly represented, I would like to offer our deepest and most sincere condolences to his wife Dwina and to his family. We will miss him immensely; we will miss his energy, his dedication to the cause of authors and, most of all, I will miss his friendship.”
Olivier Hinnewinkel, Director General of CISAC, said, “The global creative community and all of us at CISAC are deeply shocked and saddened by the passing of Robin Gibb. Robin was known all around the world as a great songwriter and artist, but he was less well known as an active defender of the rights of creators. Robin Gibb was always incredibly generous with his time as he relentlessly fought for the cause of authors and their rights.”
During his tenure as CISAC President, Gibb strongly defended the copyright system, challenging big business and governments whenever they argued that author copyright stifled commercial development. His interventions regularly featured on the global news agenda and frequently effected policy change.
The last official engagement of Robin Gibb for CISAC was at the World Copyright Summit in Brussels in June 2011. In his closing address to delegates, Gibb said that authors – who “underpin the whole of the creative industries” – should be “cherished and nurtured as such”, adding poignantly, “I’m proud to be President of CISAC, and I will keep on fighting for creators’ rights as long as I can draw breath.”
At the 2009 World Copyright Summit in Washington, DC, Gibb warned: “Copyright is not a barrier to progress. It is a facilitator of progress, creativity and communication. The existence of strong copyright will not stifle the development of the digital utopia which Google, Microsoft and others promise. Copyright will promote such development. Without copyright you have chaos and this is a far greater barrier to progress.”
As a direct result of Gibb’s intervention in April 2009, the Croatian government abandoned an initiative that would have dramatically reduced royalties paid by the hotel, restaurant and catering sector. A letter sent by Gibb in November 2009 helped bring about a Presidential veto of a damaging law being proposed in Chile.
Gibb has also spoken out against the 2008 European Commission Decision that accused authors’ societies of restricting competition. He also criticised the delay taken by China to adopt a broadcasting tariff and the reluctance of Serbian national broadcaster RTS to pay royalties.
In June 2010 avideo message demonstrated Gibb’s solidarity with Brazilian creators and authors’ societies urging authorities to reject proposed reforms to the copyright act that would be detrimental to authors’ rights. In 2010 and 2011, Gibb strongly supported the Copyright Act reform in India to improve music composers and filmmakers’ rights. In his last hours, Robin Gibb has had the pleasure of knowing that the amendments to the Copyright Act were adopted by the Indian Senate, finally recognizing the rights of the creators in this country
Robin Gibb, singer-songwriter, President of CISAC, 1949-2012
