REFLECTIONS – OUR DEAR AND BELOVED SGAE

Let's start with a question: Why this hatred of SGAE? I may not like it either, but the acronym SGAE stands for something as significant as the General Society of Authors and Publishers, successor to the former General Society of Authors of Spain, which, in turn, succeeded the even older General Society of Spanish Authors. This is an association to which ALL Authors, Publishers, and Publishing Houses in Spain have entrusted, and continue to entrust, the management of the rights to their creations. Although, in principle, any Author or Publisher is free to choose their representative from any of the PROs in the world (PRO = Performance and Mechanical Rights Societies = Union of Mechanical Rights Management Societies – I'll explain what 'Mechanical' means later), in Spain, there's no room for maneuver, since SGAE is a private entity that holds an ABSOLUTE MONOPOLY in our country. Unlike in the USA or UK, where authors or publishers can choose between several societies to represent them, any Spanish author or publisher will, whether they like it or not, have to go through the offices of the SGAE.

It's important to point out that every author/publisher in Spain is a member of SGAE. Let me make it clearer: almost all the Spanish DJs and producers you read about in this magazine work under SGAE's management umbrella, and the copyrights of many of the 'made in Spain' tracks you hear in your favorite clubs are also managed by them. Therefore, I am also a member of SGAE. Hold on! Don't panic! Yes, I am a member of SGAE, although I (and most others) have absolutely nothing to do with its modus operandi (read: decisions and ways of operating). As an author and publisher—since Sutil Records has its own publishing house—I affirm that I will never be in favor of piracy, but neither will I support many of the actions this society takes. Basically, because instead of implementing sound management policies that adapt to the times, the solution applied has been nothing more than forcing everyone to pay for everything. With these infamous and widely known royalties, the only result has been that many of you feel cheated and confuse copyright with recording rights. Thus, as a consequence of this anger, many of you indiscriminately download whatever they fancy, cursing the SGAE (Spanish Society of Authors and Publishers) for the honor of a hard drive, blank CD, USB drive, or whatever...

Let me explain. When you buy a CD/download/vinyl record, etc., part of the profit goes to the store that sells it, another part to the record label that pays the artist or group, and a third part goes to the songwriter(s). For example, Julio Iglesias has entire albums where he sings, but he isn't the author of any of the songs. Therefore, if you were to buy this particular CD, the royalties would be managed by SGAE (the Spanish Society of Authors and Publishers), which would collect a percentage for each CD/download/vinyl record sold. Then, after deducting their management fees (which are considerable, I assure you), they would pay the songwriter(s). So, in that case, the artist wouldn't receive any royalties, and instead, the record label would pay them a percentage of each record sold for being the artist/performer. However, the author/composer wouldn't receive anything from the record label, as that percentage would be paid to them by SGAE (the Spanish Society of Authors and Publishers) as the author. This percentage is what we know as the 'Mechanical Reproduction Right'. Besides the fee that SGAE charges per physical copy sold or downloaded (Mechanical Reproduction), there's another fee for which a royalty is charged: 'Public Performance'. This corresponds to the rights paid by the owner of a club, the organizer of an event or concert, or the owner of a music bar to publicly perform music written or composed by an author/composer. And ALL works in the world have an author, even though some have become 'Popular Songs' over the years.

It's clear that with the whole piracy issue, SGAE's revenue from 'Mechanical Reproduction' has decreased considerably. Therefore, they want to 'compensate' for these losses by charging exorbitant fees through royalties collected from 'Public Performance,' applying them to groups that, until now, haven't been considered for paying anything. Risking much more than you can imagine, I ask out loud, going straight for the jugular: Will applying levies to hairdressers or taxi drivers solve the problem? For God's sake... NOOOOOO!! That will only create more resentment, animosity, even hatred, and, of course, provoke more piracy!!