The Malta Entertainment Industry and Arts Association has thrown its weight behind a group of prominent local performers who filed a judicial protest to reclaim unpaid performance fees—a rare public stand in a sector where fear of professional blacklisting typically keeps artists silent.
Why This Matters
• MEIA reports that roughly 80% of cases it handles for members involve unpaid or delayed fees, unclear contracts, or breaches of agreed terms.
• Prominent Eurovision artists including Ira Losco, Destiny Chukunyere, and Gaia Cauchi are among those who filed the legal action.
• The case highlights systemic payment failures in Malta's small but economically vulnerable creative sector.
Eurovision Stars Challenge Choreographer Over "Divas II" Payments
A coalition of Maltese singers and performers lodged a formal complaint in the First Hall of the Civil Court against choreographer Felix Busuttil Galea, who was working on behalf of YADA Dance Company. The artists allege they were not fully compensated for their work in the Divas II – The Dance Show, which was produced and staged in 2025, despite fulfilling contractual obligations that included extensive rehearsals and live performances.
The performers stated in court filings that these fees represented their primary source of livelihood and that repeated attempts to settle the matter privately had failed. Promises of payment, they claim, went unfulfilled, leaving them with no choice but to pursue a judicial remedy.
The legal action represents an unusual degree of transparency in Malta's tightly knit entertainment community, where professional relationships and future booking opportunities are often contingent on maintaining amicable terms with producers, promoters, and venue operators.
"Courageous" Action in a Climate of Fear
MEIA publicly praised the artists for what it described as a "courageous" collective stand, emphasizing that many creative professionals are reluctant to pursue formal complaints due to concerns about retaliation. In Malta's small cultural sector, where professional networks overlap significantly, the fear of losing future work or being informally blacklisted is a powerful deterrent to legal action.
The association noted that non-payment and delayed compensation are endemic issues, with approximately 80% of the cases it handles involving some form of contractual breach related to remuneration. These range from outright refusal to pay agreed fees to ambiguous contract terms that leave artists vulnerable to exploitation.
MEIA called for a shift in industry culture, advocating for an environment where honoring contracts and respecting professional commitments are standard practice, not exceptions. The association emphasized that fair and timely remuneration is not merely a courtesy but a fundamental principle for a sustainable cultural sector.
What This Means for Malta's Creative Workforce
The judicial protest underscores a broader problem facing Malta's artists, musicians, and performers: the precarity of creative work in a market with limited funding opportunities, project-based contracts, and minimal statutory protections for non-payment.
Unlike several European countries, Malta lacks a comprehensive social safety net tailored to the unique working conditions of artists. In Germany, for instance, the Künstlersozialkasse (Artists' Social Security Fund) provides self-employed artists with health, pension, and long-term care insurance, with half the contributions covered by a state subsidy and a levy on companies that exploit artistic works. France operates the Intermittents du Spectacle system, a special unemployment insurance scheme for performing artists and technicians that offers financial support during periods of inactivity between short-term contracts.
In Malta, by contrast, artists must rely on general contract law and civil court proceedings to recover unpaid fees—a process that can be costly, time-consuming, and uncertain. The absence of a dedicated alternative dispute resolution mechanism for the creative sector means that many artists either absorb financial losses or attempt informal negotiation, often with limited success.
EU Framework Offers Legal Leverage, But Enforcement Lags
European Union legislation provides some recourse. The Digital Single Market Directive (EU 2019/790) mandates that artists and performers across the EU receive "appropriate and proportionate remuneration" for the exploitation of their works. It also grants rights to transparency—requiring detailed, annual information on how works are used and the revenue they generate—and the right to contract adjustment, allowing artists to seek additional payment if initial fees prove disproportionately low relative to subsequent revenue.
Article 21 of the directive introduces a voluntary alternative dispute resolution mechanism for remuneration disputes, which could offer a less adversarial path to settlement than formal litigation. However, awareness of these rights remains low among Malta's creative professionals, and enforcement mechanisms are still developing across member states.
Collective Management Organizations (CMOs) in other European countries often play a key role in recovering unpaid royalties and fees on behalf of artists. In Malta, the equivalent infrastructure is less developed, leaving individual performers to navigate legal systems largely alone.
Payment Disputes Beyond Malta: A European Pattern
The Malta case mirrors broader trends across Europe, where artists face systemic financial precarity. In Portugal, for example, surveys indicate that artists frequently encounter intermittent remuneration, ambiguous contractual obligations, and fear of professional repercussions if they pursue complaints. A Portuguese photojournalist, Leong Francisco Paulo, recently sued Agence France-Presse and Getty Images for copyright infringement, alleging they unlawfully distributed his photographs without authorization or credit—a case that directly addresses the artist's right to remuneration.
Spain has introduced an "Artist's Charter" to create a more suitable legal framework for cultural workers, including special unemployment benefits and reduced social security contribution rates for self-employed artists earning under €3,000 annually. The United Kingdom enforces an Artist's Resale Right, granting creators royalties each time their work is resold by an art market professional, provided the sale price exceeds £1,000.
These examples illustrate that Malta is not alone in confronting the challenge of unpaid creative work, but also that other jurisdictions are experimenting with statutory protections and support systems that Malta currently lacks.
Industry Calls for Structural Reform
MEIA's endorsement of the legal action signals growing impatience with the status quo. The association has called for clearer contractual standards, greater transparency in payment terms, and a cultural shift that treats artists as professionals entitled to the same legal protections as workers in other sectors.
For Malta's creative community, the outcome of the Divas II case could set a precedent. A successful legal recovery would demonstrate that the courts can provide an effective remedy for unpaid fees, potentially emboldening other artists to pursue similar claims. A protracted or unsuccessful case, on the other hand, may reinforce the perception that legal action is risky and ineffective, further entrenching a culture of silence.
The broader lesson is practical: artists working in Malta should insist on written contracts with clear payment schedules, deliverables, and dispute resolution clauses. They should also consider collective action—whether through formal associations like MEIA or informal coalitions—as a means of reducing the individual risk of speaking out.
For now, the judicial protest filed by Ira Losco, Destiny Chukunyere, Gaia Cauchi, and their colleagues represents a rare public challenge to the norm of informal, under-the-table disputes in Malta's entertainment sector. Whether it sparks lasting change will depend on the court's ruling, industry response, and the willingness of other artists to follow their lead.
