CISAC Annual Report Touts End to Greek Royalty Tragedy

Now that nan pandemic is over, “it is thing but ‘business arsenic usual'” astatine CISAC, nan world waste and acquisition statement for copyright collecting societies, according to head wide Gadi Oron successful its 2023 yearly report. 

In a clip of alteration for collecting societies, which bring successful a mixed 9.6 cardinal euros a year, CISAC’s priorities see lobbying governments successful support of personnel societies, continuing its run to support nan ISWC codification strategy to place works, and navigating nan challenges of AI, which Oron calls “our biggest privilege now successful position of policy.” 

The biggest news successful nan study astir a peculiar marketplace is nan occurrence of Autodia, nan Greek collecting nine that has go salient since nan 2018 dissolution of AEPI. “In 2018, I gave a position to nan committee [of CISAC and said we must do something,” Oron remembers. AEPI’s illness was epic, complete pinch a 2017 constabulary ambush and a nonaccomplishment to salary retired 42.5 cardinal euros (more than nan full magnitude it distributed immoderate years), according to an audit ordered by nan Greek Ministry of Culture. Oron feared nan imaginable illness of a marketplace that had been worthy astir 50 cardinal euros a twelvemonth successful nan precocious 1990s, truthful he asked nan CISAC’s committee to support a scheme to money and thief Autodia, which was past a mini nonprofit nine that successful 2018 collected little than a cardinal euros. 

In 2022, Autodia collected 16.2 cardinal euros, and it now collects for each 3 awesome publishers, BMG, and galore of its sister societies, according to CEO Margarita Panagiotopoulou. “We are increasing accelerated and gaining marketplace share,” Panagiotopoulou says, “and that is connected way to continue.”  

Autodia now faces title from EDEM, which mostly represents Greek repertoire and took successful astir 8 cardinal euros past year.  

The first shape of CISAC’s scheme was to get Autodia loans from its personnel societies and nonstop to Athens advisor Declan Rudden, who became interim CEO of Autodia to get nan nine running. He helped make reciprocal agreements pinch world societies and tribunal publishers, arsenic good arsenic compete pinch EYED, a government-controlled entity that was designated arsenic nan impermanent successor to AEPI. (Some awesome publishers primitively signed pinch EYED but astir of them are now pinch Autodia.) One day, arsenic Rudden and squad were putting together desks successful nan Autodia office, it was raided by nan Greek section of labour and fined for keeping labor aft 5pm without notifying them successful advance. (This is forbidden successful Greece, but raids are uncommon.) “They did everything to make our life difficult,” remembers Rudden, who runs nan consultancy SaorServices. 

Gradually, nan section squad took over, and Autodia took successful much than 4 cardinal euros by 2019, past much than 12 cardinal euros by 2022, arsenic nan pandemic subsided. “The publication of CISAC was very important,” Panagiotopoulou says, successful position of funding, legitimacy and lobbying some nan Greek authorities and songwriters themselves.  

Greece is still a contested market. “Market stock is simply a matter of disagreement,” says EDEM COO George Myzalis. (Panagiotopoulou says Autodia has much than 85% marketplace share, but nan respective royalty postulation numbers connote a little number.) Along nan way, nan exertion institution Orfium, which has immoderate operations based successful Athens, almost entered nan marketplace arsenic well, but it yet withdrew. (The institution operates successful different sectors and did not respond to a petition for comment.) Right now, venues and broadcasters successful Greece request licenses from some Autodia and EDEM, particularly if they want to play some nan world repertoire that Autodia dominates arsenic good arsenic nan Greek compositions that EDEM tends to have.  

Some large publishers judge that nan increasing occurrence of Autodia limits nan possibilities for nan benignant of nonstop licensing exemplary that they spot arsenic much efficient. One thought that astatine slightest immoderate of them favored was to establsh EDEM arsenic an statement that would connection much optionality by requiring little exclusive grants of authorities – and a exemplary for what they judge could beryllium a much businesslike early for nan publishing business. As Autodia grows, that is becoming little apt – which immoderate publishers spot arsenic a wasted opoortunity and different societies and immoderate different publishers and songwriters spot arsenic a triumph for nan existent structure, which for each of its complexity offers much of a equilibrium of powerfulness betwixt large players and mini ones.

The only things astir executives look to work together connected is that nan business successful Greece is acold amended than it was nether AEPI and that it is getting better, moreover if it’s not wherever it should be. “AEPI was a disaster,” says Peermusic European president Nigel Elderton. “Autodia person their enactment together and they’re paying royalties done and they’re starting to grow.” 

At a clip erstwhile nan accepted collecting nine exemplary is being challenged by nonstop licensing and a increasing number of for-profit royalty organizations, some nan different societies that supported Autodia and nan publishers that favored different exemplary work together that nan implications of nan society’s occurrence spell beyond Greece. Now that CISAC has showed it tin thief move astir a nine successful a marketplace that’s perceived to beryllium dysfunctional, it could perchance do truthful again.

“This was 10 times harder than I could person imagined,” Oron says. “But we’ve proven to ourselves that we tin do it. Whether we tin do it successful different countries depends, but we person impervious that we tin do it.”