Authors-directors

This is a unique specificity: SACEM is the world’s only musical rights society to accept authors-directors and pay them royalties. For programmes other than drama and documentaries, there exists no system specially designed for the rights of directors of video-clips, variety shows and entertainment, captation, etc.

Filming music is actually a genuine profession. Much of the work must be completed before shooting and requires meticulous analysis. “This is precision writing, which entails extracting from the score the essentials to be able to present them,” explains Madeleine Simoni, author-director and musical consultant for television.
Then, you have to express in images each kind of music’s inner rationale, as the author-director Donald Kent sums up: “There is preliminary work of reflection, listening and understanding to know how music is structured and what it says. Then, this must be interpreted to make it comprehensible for those who will see the programme on television only once.”

Well aware than exploitation of the musical repertoire could be reinforced and enhanced through images, SACEM has always wanted to take into account this profession in the service of music. For Claude Gaillard, Director of Relations with Members, “Authors-directors have a role in making music known; this made it seem legitimate for the Board of Directors to associate them in the collection and distribution of royalties in their favour.”
At first, SACEM collected television royalties only for exploitation of the musical repertoire. But music cannot exist without images on television. This is why, when authors-directors, who received no royalties for their works, came to SACEM, we negotiated for them with all the other authors’ societies concerned, to obtain specific remuneration. SACEM even went further, since its Board of Directors, by accepting authors-directors, decided to complete the share paid by television.
This system remains today, with some changes. And authors-directors are well represented at SACEM, since they have an incumbent representative and a substitute on the Board of Directors.

The authors-directors’ committee appointed by the Board of Directors is made up of eight members who meet once or twice a month to examine every realisation and register and classify works by category. They take into account the share of creativity and the director’s level of responsibility, as well as the technical constraints of the shoot. Thus, for example, a video clip is automatically placed in category 1 with the maximum coefficient, while a programme shot with limited resources and reduced intervention from the author-director will have a lower coefficient.
“Our prime concern is to make certain to avoid being unfair: remuneration should correspond to the creative input,” explains Yvon Gérault, chairman of this committee. Directors who consider the classification does not truly reflect their contribution can submit their arguments. There are few disagreements however: “This is largely due to the spirit of dialogue and experience sharing within the committee. In ten years, we’ve had only one or two claims,” confides Yvon Gérault.

NB: a special registration form is also available to authors-directors for the category “creation of musical documentaries.” It concerns exceptional realisations with remuneration corresponding to five times the highest rate.

€5.282m
Amount of royalties SACEM distributed to authors-directors in 2009, with three main activity sectors: public television (€1.214m), private television (€1.805m) and video (€1.139m)

3,272
Number of authors-directors registered as SACEM members on 31 December 2009

8,496
Number of television and audiovisual creations giving rise to distribution in 2009 for 1,267 authors-directors