This Is What's Wrong With The Music Industry: Musicians Have To Pay To Pay Themselves
from the bureaucracy dept
We often hear that various collection societies shouldn't be lumped in with the labels when discussions turn to the "problems" of the music industry. After all, the collection societies are just "focused on getting musicians paid." And that's true, unlike the labels, who seem to look for ways not to pay musicians. But... almost every musician I know who deals with collection societies has horror stories about the experience, and they never seem to consider how much their actions (like shaking down anyone playing music in an office or making it impossible to host open mic nights in cafes) really does more harm than good.Let's tell one such story. Before we get started, why not hit play on this musical widget from Uniform Motion, a band from France we've written about a few times. The story is about them and the insanity of collection societies -- but you might as well use their music as the soundtrack for the post:
BUT.... what most people don’t know is that the music venue is legally obliged to pay public performance rights to SACEM (France’s Copyright Collection Society) in order to have bands play live music in their venue.Oh, you thought it stopped there? Nope. He notes that even the CD sale involves SACEM.
So we often have to fill out a form, providing details on all the songs we played to ensure SACEM can find the songwriter and pay them their money.“But we are the songwriters” we cry! “Just give us the money directly, why don’t you? It would save everyone a lot of time (and money) wouldn’t it”?But that would be far too easy.
So the venue pays SACEM and SACEM tells us we can get the money back (minus some reasonable administration fees of course, like their President’s €750,000 annual salary for instance!) if we pay them a member’s fee.
In order to have CD’s made in France, you’re legally obliged to fill out an SDRM form (which is handled by SACEM). CD Manufacturers won’t press your CD’s without prior authorization from SACEM.Yes, you read that right. They have to pay SACEM to make their CD... because SACEM insists that it needs to pay the songwriters. Since they're all original songs (and quite good ones too), they have to pay SACEM so that SACEM can make sure that money goes to... er... them. The summary:
If the songs are not listed in their database, you don’t have to pay them anything but if they are (because maybe you became a SACEM member in order to get your public performance money from your live performances) they’ll make you pay a Mechanical Royalty.
So we fill out the forms and they tell us we have to pay the mechanical royalties to them so that they can pay the songwriter for the privilege of having their music on our CD.“But we are the songwriters dude! So why don’t we just give the money to ourselves?!”Again, that would be too easy!
Let’s summarize what just happened here. The Copyright Collection Society makes the artist pay them to have their own CD’s manufactured, takes a portion of their live revenues and then uses the money to sue the guy who came to the gig and bought a CD!Ah, right. Did you miss that part? SACEM is involved in some lawsuits against file sharing sites.
This is what is wrong with the music business.
So, look at this from Andy's perspective. He's fine with his music on The Pirate Bay because it builds a fan base, which helps him attract fans to shows where they buy merch. All that works great for Andy and Uniform Motion. And yet, SACEM forcefully inserts itself into nearly every step of that process -- taking a cut of the live revenue to "pay" the band, taking a cut of the CD manufacturing to "pay" them again... and then using the money it collects to try to take down the platform that the band uses to promote its works.
Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.
While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.
–The Techdirt Team
Filed Under: collection societies, france, uniform motion
Companies: sacem
Reader Comments
Subscribe: RSS
View by: Time | Thread
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Just goes to show,
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Just goes to show,
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Just goes to show,
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Just goes to show,
I think The Empire had to pay out Ten Grand over Cover Songs being done here and there by Bands who played in their Club.
Yes these Collection Agencies will not do shit for you as a musician and they will plague you by both ripping you off and ripping off any venues in your Area.
Fuck The MAFIAA !
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Just goes to show,
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re: Just goes to show,
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re: Just goes to show,
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re: Re: Just goes to show,
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Also known as bob's ultimate wet dream.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
The Internet is creating a golden age of music.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Where are they now?
These artists choose to accept The Pirate Bay, they choose to not have anything to do with a collection agency, but they're forced into the old way of thinking. They're forced to do business with the collection agency, they're forced to support the fight against The Pirate Bay.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Where are they now?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Where are they now?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Where are they now?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Where are they now?
This is yet another example on how copyright is utterly broken and needs reviewing. But in these people minds everything is okay despite the numerous examples telling us the opposite.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Where are they now?
That's akin to sheep leaving their droppings on my lawn.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re: Where are they now?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Where are they now?
Now, in contrast to this example, I'll use one of my own.
I move around a lot. Several years ago I moved to a different state. One of the forklift driver for the company I started working for was a guitarist for a metal band. Three months after I started he took a leave of absence because his band had gotten themselves booked on a midwest tour, which included my hometown (Chicago).
Now I like that kind of music, and I have a lot of friends who are into that sort of music as well. I said for a copy of their CD, I'd "market" them back home. Sent digital copies of some of their songs to about 15-20 friends back home. The end result was not only was Chicago the only stop on their tour but they sold about 23% more CDs (as a percentage of attendance) than any other city on the tour.
In fact, after the show )most of them as they were buying CDs, so many people said they'd heard about the band, directly or indirectly, from me that they also gave me free copies of their next two CDs.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Where are they now?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Where are they now?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
The CD situation seems pretty stupid, though.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
As the article states: "In order to have CD’s made in France, you’re legally obliged to fill out an SDRM form (which is handled by SACEM). CD Manufacturers won’t press your CD’s without prior authorization from SACEM."
That's a serious fucking problem that needs to be solved (ie, get rid of these stupid laws).
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
Not even a little bit.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Will they EVER understand this
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Same in the Netherlands
What they do with the money? Nobody knows. They probably pay our musicians again, after taking their own fat share.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Bootlegs
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
I can't be the only person who thought this...
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
So why don't they...
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: So why don't they...
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: So why don't they...
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re: So why don't they...
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
There is no way for the collection society to know instantly who the song writer is. They have no way to know if all of the songs conform, that the artist won't break into Happy Birthday or a rousing rendition of an Amanda Palmer song (provided she has an original). There is no way to tell, it's just too big to police. They have no way to know who has the rights and who doesn't fast enough to pay them on the spot.
So sadly, while the band thinks "we are playing, pay us" it's just not that simple at all.
Sorry Mike, but another whining post that fails when you apply your own standard logic.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
Piracy isn't "too big to police", but perhaps if the RIAA had decided to actually sue the right people when they began their misguided campaign, they might actually have some sympathy. Same for collection societies who decided that suing girl scouts and charity concerts playing folk songs was a great idea. SACEM doesn't want to work for its money and wants to insert itself at every tier of collection? If anyone's whining, it's you.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re:
Sure it has. It's why uploads to YouTube are not checked before being published. It's too big to check.
All those torrents? Too big to check.
All those file lockers full of warez and dvd rips? Too big to check.
Read back a ways, it's a pretty standard techdirt refrain.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re:
To big to check isn't a refrain here, the refrain is the cartels need to invest the money to protect their own content and not shovel that work onto everyone else and expect them to bear the burdens of paying for it.
Unless of course they are lying about the billions they have lost to "piracy" when it only takes millions to stop that from happening. They are all for any enforcement they can get as long as they don't have to pay for it.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
Maybe if we put copyright back to 14 years, it will make it easier for them?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
cut the collection office out of the loop = increase music diversity
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Same in Switzerland and Germany
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Piracy is wrong Mike, no matter how many articles you publish.
What would happen if your website was pirated, how would you feel?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
You might want to follow bob or average_joe a bit more; your troll-failure is so obvious, it's painful.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
We've stated, repeatedly, that our work is in the public domain and any are free to take it and do what they want with it. So, um, go ahead. If you want to help promote what we write and spread the word, thank you!
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
You dont know unless you know.
There are live music promoters in the world that have these crwators works beimg used and constantly try to avoid payong that person their correct remuneration, not the sibger who just stands therw for 3 hours with peolle singing "theor songs" while indivduals who spend days, hours and weeks crwating thoae works but do not like the public ligt are flat broke living in shitholes while these performers are warning millions.
Its horses for courses people, with my xollecting society I wouldn't be able to pay the mortgage everyonth and do the job I love!!!
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]