Remunate creators

This question will be asked as long as authors organizations collect royalties for the use of music. Raised on entertainment's legendary image, the public is familiar with the singer, musician or orchestra leader who interprets the work. But when they listen to famous vocal artists sing, how many listeners or viewers imagine that those artists may not have written their own songs, or at least not alone? Artists often perform the works of authors or composers not familiar to the public. These authors and composers have a right to remuneration too. Authors' rights constitute their salary.


The remuneration of these creators was defined by law in the Intellectual Property Code. This code specifies that the right to utilize the works belongs to the author and includes:

Performing right

The work cannot be presented, performed or broadcast in public (television, radio, concerts, gala performances, dances, public address systems, etc.) without the author's authorization.

Reproduction right

The author's authorization must also be obtained before the reproduction of any of his/her works as records, cassettes, films, videos, etc.

In return for such authorization, the law provides for payment of authors rights stipulated by contract to the author or his/her representatives.

To exercise and defend their rights, music authors, composers and publishers created SACEM (Société des Auteurs, Compositeurs et Editeurs de Musique) in 1851.

The repertoire SACEM protects is immense: songs, rock, jazz, rap, symphonies, chamber and electro-acoustic music, film scores, audiovisual music programs, videoclips, sketches and poems... in total, more than four million French and foreign works.

All works are protected both during the creator's lifetime and after, for 70 years after death for literary works and for musical compositions with or without lyrics

Today SACEM groups over 137 000 members, authors, author-directors, composers and publishers, thus encompassing almost all French authors and composers.

Through reciprocity agreements with some 100 organizations of foreign authors, it also represents in France the works of foreign writers. When a work by film score composer Ryoichi Sakamoto, a member of Jasrac (the Japanese authors organization), is played in France, SACEM collects the authors' rights and forwards them to Jasrac. Likewise, if Jean -Michel Jarre gives a concert in Tokyo, Jasrac will transfer to Sacem the resulting authors' rights.

SACEM has dealings with 800,000 broadcasters, show organizers and music producers, and employs a staff of 1,399 half in its 81 regional offices.

Whenever works in its repertoire are performed or reproduced, SACEM is there to monitor members' rights and interests by :

• authorizing the public performance and broadcast of protected works via contracts (television channels, radio stations, concerts, shows, dances, discotheques, movie theaters, public venues with sound systems), audio and video reproduction via SDRM (Society for the Administration of Mechanical Reproduction Rights) and interactive multimedia programs (CD-ROMs, DVDs, video games...) via SESAM.
   
• by collecting from users the applicable fees, as determined by the service rendered by music. When music is essential to the business or show, SACEM collects a percentage of the revenues resulting from the use of the music; when the music's role is secondary, the fee is calculated on a lump-sum basis.
   
• by obtaining from broadcasters, show organizers, and record, video and multimedia producers the lists of works performed or reproduced in order to allocate and distribute collected sums to rights-holders.