Jean-Noël Tronc, CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER
At the start of a summer marked by the absence of thousands of festivals, concerts and cultural events, Magsacem bears the imprint of the terrible crisis affecting our sector. Culture was the first to be deprived of its activities with the cancellation of all concerts in spring, and it will be one of the last sectors to pull through.
Many festivals and major tours will not resume until summer 2021.
A study by the EY firm for the Tous pour la musique (TPLM) association reports 4.5 billion euros of loss in turnover for the music industry. This means that 43% of the industry's expected revenue for 2020 has disappeared, and up to 83% for variety shows and modern music!
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Faced with this situation of unprecedented severity, working with our Board of Directors we quickly put in place measures that respond both to the urgency of the situation and to the lasting risks it poses for creators. Our priority has been to ensure the continuity of our primary taks goals, by securing the distributions of 6 April and 6 July and by guaranteeing continuity of service for our members, our clients and cultural project directors. All billings have been suspended for the hundreds of thousands of clients in shutdown. We then launched an emergency measures plan to the tune of 43 million euros for authors, composers and publishers, in order to immediately help those experiencing the greatest difficulty, to offer copyright advances and adapt our programme of aid for publishers. At the same time, we have launched a plan to cut Sacem's management costs through a series of measures, including a massive partial unemployment plan.
From the start of lockdown, our society understood that for you, this crisis was a dreaded double-edged sword of lost income. Your projects were immediately blocked, but the drop in royalties will mainly be felt next year, during the distributions of January, April and July 2021. The cancellation of concerts, the closure of stores and other public places playing music, the drop in advertising revenues for media, sales of CDs and devices subject to private copying, combined with the effects of a global crisis on your overseas right, all leads to a considerable loss of earnings. Currently, we estimate the overall loss of copyright collections due to the crisis to be 250 million euros, or between 20 and 25% of collections for this year.
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The drop in our collections will have a significant impact on Sacem's management account for 2020. The deductions from royalties, which provide 70% of our budget, have of course fallen as much as our collections. Sacem is a non-profit non-trading entity, which neither saves nor makes profit. In other words, there are no “reserves” at Sacem we could draw on in order to face the crisis. We have financed our relief measures with the exceptional use of the sums coming from 25% of private copying, thanks to a
government order of 27 March which authorises collective management organisations to assign the latter to their members until the end of the year. We have also financed advances by mobilising part of the cash flow of the sums awaiting distribution.
Our ultimate goal is to limit the impact of this crisis on you, authors, composers and publishers, by implementing a larger savings plan, without jeopardising the future of our society. Additionally, during our General Assembly of 16 June, Sacem members voted for exceptional statutory exemptions which allow us to subscribe to a strategy of gradual return to balance in the management account over several years, preserving members and avoiding a sharp increase in levies on rights.
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During this crisis, we have also implemented actions to continue defending your rights. In this issue of Magsacem, you will find an article about remuneration for online concerts or livestreams, ensuring an additional source of income for all those who are deprived of a stage. Another initiative envisaged by our society is the #ScèneFrançaise campaign, which has been very successful and gives your work greater visibility. Many of you have shown your support for this initiative in this issue of Magsacem.
Throughout this period, we have worked hand in hand with professional organisations and have met regularly with public authorities so that they take your professions into account in all economic safeguarding plans. We have contributed directly to the measures decided by the Government, such as the bailout of the National Music Centre (CNM), the eligibility of authors and composers for the support fund of 7 billion euros for VSEs and independents, or measures in favour of people employed in show business on a casual basis.
We remain active and have welcomed the appointment of Roselyne Bachelot as Minister of Culture with hope. May she realise the extent of the difficulties faced by you and the world of culture. A massive recovery plan is now essential to help our sector not only recover but also strengthen its contribution to the economic and social recovery of our country.
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At Sacem, we have a unique responsibility to protect and promote authors’rights and collective management. Our battles in this area will continue, at a national level first with the construction of a better funded CNM more focused on authors, composers and publishers, but also by continuing our work on the status of authors.
With all its imperfections, the European Union remains an indispensable protective framework in an increasingly uncertain world. I will have a role to play as the new president of GESAC (European Grouping of Societies of Authors and Composers) defending your professions, your rights and our collective action.
Published September 18 2020