SACEM (Society of Authors, Composers and Publishers of Music) and Canal+ Group have signed a global agreement on the payment of royalties for the use of works in the French collecting society’s repertoire across all the pay-TV giant’s channels and services.
SACEM had taken legal action against the Vivendi-owned Canal+ Group in July seeking payment of overdue royalties. The collecting society said it is dropping all pending legal proceedings which are no longer relevant following the agreement. Last month Canal+ reportedly paid €8 million (£7.15m) to SACD, another collecting society involved in the lawsuit.
Under the agreement, Canal+ Group will pay SACEM all sums due for 2017 under the contracts it manages for all authors' societies, as well as submitting details of the works used so that collections can be distributed efficiently to the creators and publishers concerned.
SACEM and Canal+ Group have also entered into a new agreement for a minimum of two years from January 1, 2018.
SACEM’s CEO Jean-Noël Tronc said: "SACEM has defended the interests of its members uncompromisingly, to guarantee everyone the fairest remuneration terms. Once again, SACEM has demonstrated the importance of the collective management model in defending the rights of creators. We hope that the strategic repositioning of Canal+ Group will allow it to successfully re-establish itself to the benefit of the entire creative ecosystem".
Jean-Christophe Thiery, chairman of the Canal+ Group Management Board, added: "Canal+ Group is delighted to have entered this new partnership with SACEM for the coming years, which takes into account our new offers to subscribers and particularly the amount of sports on our channels and in our packages. With this agreement, our Group renews its commitment to the financing of creation and support of authors in France."
Sacem has 161,170 members, including 19,650 creators from outside France, and represents over 118 million works from the global repertoire.
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