ASCAP and SACEM are expanding their existing relationship into an alliance that will allow them to invest together in data technology and collect directly from streaming services in more foreign markets, as well as launch an AI working group and encourage collaboration between songwriters.
From 2022, SACEM collects money from online services in foreign markets for ASCAP members who do not have direct agreements in those places and for their respective leaders, ASCAP CEO Elizabeth Matthews and CEO of SACEM Cécile Rap-Veberthey have become friends. This agreement, which is most important in Europe but also operates in the Middle East and Africa, has been extended. It will also expand to Asia.
Collective management organizations began competing to represent the public's online performance rights for compositions in Europe in the last decade. But that competition is heating up in other parts of the world. (The US is among the exceptions, where local societies license online rights as well as traditional rights.) Thus, ICE (a consortium hub run by Germany's GEMA, Sweden's STIM and the UK's PRS for Music and SACEM now compete with other rights to the repertoire they do not represent in their home markets Although many of the markets outside Europe are quite small, they will be the source of significant growth over the next decade.
The new agreement between ASCAP and SACEM will also allow the two organizations to share investment and expertise, a real advantage given the cost and complexity of licensing a growing number of compositions to a growing number of markets. The resources required have given SACEM and ICE an advantage over other European societies.
The AI Working Group will help build composer understanding and legislative support for policies that will lead to better compensation for rights holders. While some of the issues are the same on both sides of the Atlantic, others are not. The European Union has already taken some steps towards regulating AI, both in AI legislation and in a Copyright Directive provision that allows rights holders to opt out of ingesting their work for AI training purposes. intelligence. The announcement says the deal will also provide songwriters with ways to collaborate, including songwriting camps.
The announcement of the deal comes at a time when ASCAP's traditional rival in the US, BMI, now operating as a for-profit company, has expressed some interest in expanding into foreign markets.
from our partners at https://www.billboard.com/pro/ascap-sacem-new-alliance-ai-task-force/