News

An exciting and innovative new deal between SABAM and Google has got 2013 off to a flying start for the Belgian author society’s 36 000 members.

What’s the deal?

The new deal establishes a licensing relationship between Google and SABAM, granting Google a single point of access for the multi-territorial use of SABAM’s repertoire – 4 million creations – on Google Play.

This bilateral relationship cuts out the usual intermediaries, local author societies, in the licensing and rights management process.

More efficiency = faster payment

The more streamlined method means that authors will have less time to wait before being paid the revenue that they are owed for the use of their music.

A European first for a medium-sized author society

Until now, SABAM has only granted licenses for the online use of its members’ works in Belgium where it is based, referring usage abroad to its sister companies in the countries concerned.

This deal makes SABAM the first medium-sized author society in the European Union to offer a single point of access for the use of its repertoire across multiple territories.

Christophe Depreter, SABAM’s CEO, says “This agreement anticipates the objectives of transparency and greater efficiency decreed by the European Commission in its proposal for a directive on collective management societies.”

Authorsocieties.eu congratulates SABAM for its innovative collaboration with Google that promises real benefits to its members – and to music fans everywhere!

We’d like to thank everyone who has visited our site in 2012 – it’s been quite a year for author societies.eu since our site was launched in April!

Here are some of our highlights:

Marielle Gallo is Member of the European Parliament for the European People’s Party and Rapporteur for the Collective Rights Management Directive. She shares her views on the development of the new legislation.

You can read the whole interview in French below

A seasoned Spanish politician and author, Antonio Masip Hidalgo is also a member of the Committee on Legal Affairs in the European Parliament that’s been charged with handling the proposed Collective Rights Management Directive.

In this frank interview given to Instituto de Derecho de Autor, the Spanish think tank on IP rights created by SGAE, Antonio strongly defends the need to protect European culture and authors by guaranteeing that they are fairly remunerated for their work. He stresses the role that culture and authors have to play in European recovery:  in the future, Europe’s cultural assets will become more than ever elements of its distinctive strength.

Antonio also recognises the long experience of the Rapporteur Marielle Gallo in defense of authors and creation.

Link to full interview (in Spanish) on http://www.institutoautor.org/blog/Entrevista-a-Antonio-Masip-Hidalgo_3437