News

The recent CISAC conference in Washington DC witnessed two crucial appointments. 

Georg Oeller appointed BIEM president GEMA executive board member Georg Oeller was elected President of the management committee of the general assembly of BIEM (Bureau International des Sociétés gérant les Droits d’Enregistrement et de Reproduction Mécanique) on June 7, 2013 in Washington D.C. At the same time, Karl-Heinz Klempnow was appointed Vice President of the general assembly.

Oeller succeeds Thierry Desurmont (SACEM/SDRM), who had held the position since 2009. The election of a new president was timed to coincide with restructuring at the umbrella organization. In future, the functions of President and Secretary General will be amalgamated, and Oeller will take on both roles in a voluntary capacity. The structural reform aims to take into account the difficulties the music industry is facing and to concentrate BIEM’s activities on exploiting music on physical data storage devices.

Harald Heker, chairman of GEMA’s executive board, said: “I am delighted that my fellow board member Georg Oeller, an expert in licensing and distributing mechanical rights, has been elected to the top of the international organization representing mechanical rights societies. With Karl-Heinz Klempnow appointed the general assembly’s Vice President as well, GEMA board members now hold two influential positions within BIEM and can play a defining role in its future. These appointments are a huge vote of confidence in the work being done by GEMA from our counterpart organizations around the world, and send an important signal to music makers in Germany.”BIEM was founded in 1929 and represents 52 organizations working in mechanical reproduction rights across 56 countries. (www.biem.org)

GEMA represents in Germany the copyrights of more than 65,000 members (composers, lyricists, and music publishers), as well as over two million copyright holders all over the world. It is one of the largest societies of authors for musical works.

Sacem is a renowned authors’ licensing and collecting society – number 1 in France and number 2 in the world in terms of membership numbers. Yet its role and the way it works are often misunderstood. Popular beliefs, even misconceptions abound.

Rightly or wrongly, Sacem was criticized in the past for its lack of transparency. A year after the arrival of its new CEO and a new direction organisation, the Board President, Laurent Petitgirard and its CEO Jean-Noël Tronc, answered as many questions as possible raised by journalists on SACEM, a society at the heart of creation and cultural industries.

GESAC, the European Grouping of Societies of Authors and Composers, welcomes the decision made by Europe’s trade ministers on Friday to exclude the audiovisual sector from the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership’s negotiating mandate.

The landmark move is in line with the wishes of the European Parliament. At a vote among democratically-elected Members of the European Parliament on 23 May this year, some 381 of those present voted in favour of excluding the cultural and creative industries from the potential deal. Some 191 voted against and 17 abstained.

The European Council and European Parliament’s stance in favor of the cultural exception demonstrates their commitment to a strong, creative Europe. Their common position is now clear: “audiovisual services will not be covered”.