In early October, the traditional authors' rights "sheet" got a new look. Redesigned to be more educational, it brings with it more explanations regarding the fees paid as well as the deductions made. Operation transparency!
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Satisfaction survey, working groups... For two and a half years, as part of the "New Corporate Relations" (NCR) programme, Sacem has spent a lot of time talking with its members to listen to their expectations and their needs.
Among the priority projects: the improvement of the documents transmitted during the four annual royalty distributions.
After several months of work and consultation with the Board of Directors, the new version of these documents was unveiled on the 5th of October. On this day, all author's royalty beneficiaries had access to a simplified and more readable version of their royalty distribution documents.
Three documents
For each royalty distribution, the rights holders now receive a “set" consisting of three documents, starting with the letter from the CEO, presenting the royalty distribution trends and major Sacem topics, followed by the account statement, announcing the total amount paid to the member.
This statement details the credit or debit transactions that are made for compulsory contributions (social security, retirement, etc.) and VAT. Author's royalties - like wages but with very specific rates - are subject to social insurance contributions. It also shows voluntary contributions, such as membership in the SMACEM mutual or a donation to the Heart Committee.
Finally, the copyright statement, the flagship document of this set, provides an overview of the result of the royalty distribution, in the manner of the "Summary of my royalty distributions" available on sacem.fr.
At the heart of this statement are the details of the levies made for management fees and social and cultural action, as well as summary tables: top works which produced the most royalties, breakdown of sums by rights type, by type of use, details of work by work and by category of use. Publishers can also see a catalogue organised by view and by geographical publishing source.
Gross or net?
"Total gross royalties distributed" corresponds to the royalties produced in the exploitation of the works, before the deductions made for management fees, social and cultural action. We then obtain the "Net total distributed".
From this total are deducted mandatory and voluntary deductions to obtain the "net amount paid", i.e. the amount paid to the member by bank transfer or cheque, displayed at the top of the statement of account. The European directive on collective management requires the collective management organisations to communicate the levies with which they will proceed, to their members each year, before distribution. In the interest of transparency, Sacem has decided to provide this information with every royalty distribution.
Going paper free
The creation of these new statements is also part of a responsible approach, with the aim of reducing the printing of thousands of pages.
While paper documents provide a very educational overview of each distribution, the online version provides even finer details, including the ability to browse, filter, and analyse your own data.
Each member is invited to visit their member area on sacem.fr, in particular under the heading "My Detailed Distribution". It is also possible to consult your dynamic account statement at any time, updated with each debit or credit transaction. All documents are available in the "View my royalty distribution sheets" section, as well as "Royalty Distribution News", which presents a comparative table of the results of the three-year royalty distribution data, royalty distribution comments and summary slips.
Happy surfing!
Published November 30 2018