Confédération Internationale Des Sociétés D'Auteurs Et Compositeurs
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The International Confederation of Societies of Authors and Composers (, ''CISAC'') is an international non-governmental, not-for-profit organisation that aims to protect the rights and promote the interests of creators worldwide. It advocates for strong legal protection of copyright and authors' rights. It is the world's largest international network of authors' societies, also known as collective management organisations (CMOs), copyright / royalty collection societies, collecting societies, or
performance rights organisation A performance rights organisation (PRO), also known as a performing rights society, provides intermediary functions, particularly collection of royalties, between copyright holders and parties who wish to use copyrighted works ''publicly'' in lo ...
s (PROs). As of 2024, 227 authors' societies from 116 countries are members of CISAC. Together, these authors' societies represent music publishers and more than five million creators and publishers from all geographic regions and all artistic fields (music, audiovisual, drama, visual arts and literature). In 2023, CISAC's member societies collected, €13.1bn i
royalties
from their respective national territories. CISAC was founded in 1926. Its international headquarters are located in
Neuilly-sur-Seine Neuilly-sur-Seine (; 'Neuilly-on-Seine'), also known simply as Neuilly, is an urban Communes of France, commune in the Hauts-de-Seine Departments of France, department just west of Paris in France. Immediately adjacent to the city, north of the ...
, France, with four regional offices based in
Budapest Budapest is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns of Hungary, most populous city of Hungary. It is the List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, tenth-largest city in the European Union by popul ...
, Hungary (European Affairs),
Santiago Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile (), is the capital and largest city of Chile and one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is located in the country's central valley and is the center of the Santiago Metropolitan Regi ...
, Chile (Latin American and Caribbean Affairs),
Burkina Faso Burkina Faso is a landlocked country in West Africa, bordered by Mali to the northwest, Niger to the northeast, Benin to the southeast, Togo and Ghana to the south, and Ivory Coast to the southwest. It covers an area of 274,223 km2 (105,87 ...
(African Affairs) and, since January 2013,
Beijing Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...
, China (Asia-Pacific Affairs). CISAC is financed by membership dues and has three
official language An official language is defined by the Cambridge English Dictionary as, "the language or one of the languages that is accepted by a country's government, is taught in schools, used in the courts of law, etc." Depending on the decree, establishmen ...
s: English, French and Spanish.


History


Founding

CISAC was founded in France in 1926 by 18 authors' societies from 18 European countries, at the time representing mainly the dramatic arts (i.e.
playwright A playwright or dramatist is a person who writes play (theatre), plays, which are a form of drama that primarily consists of dialogue between Character (arts), characters and is intended for Theatre, theatrical performance rather than just Readin ...
s and stage directors). Authors' societies are by and large non-for profit organisations that were established by creators to facilitate the management of their rights. The principle activities of authors' societies are to grant
licenses A license (American English) or licence (Commonwealth English) is an official permission or permit to do, use, or own something (as well as the document of that permission or permit). A license is granted by a party (licensor) to another part ...
, collect royalties for the use of its affiliates' creative works and distribute these royalties to rights holders. Since its inception, CISAC's mission has been to represent creators in every corner of the globe and promote their rights. CISAC initially consisted of five federations, one each for dramatic
performing rights Performing rights are the right to perform music in public. It is part of copyright law and demands payment to the music's composer/lyricist and publisher (with the royalties generally split 50/50 between the two). Performances are considered "pu ...
; public performing rights; mechanical rights; literary rights; and film rights. In 1966, CISAC united the five federations to form the International Confederation of Societies of Authors and Composers as it exists today.


Recent history

Since 1994, CISAC has been working to improve
data exchange Data exchange is the process of taking data structured under a ''source'' schema and transforming it into a ''target'' schema, so that the target data is an accurate representation of the source data. Data exchange allows data to be shared between ...
s on creative works between authors' societies. Known as the Common Information System (CIS) project, CISAC has worked on the development of ISO certified international standards for the identification of creative works and rights holders. These include the
International Standard Musical Work Code The International Standard Musical Work Code (ISWC) is a unique identifier for musical works, similar to the book's ISBN. It is adopted as international standard ISO 15707. The ISO subcommittee responsible for the standard is TC 46/SC 9. Format ...
(ISWC), the
International Standard Audiovisual Number International Standard Audiovisual Number (ISAN) is a unique identifier for audiovisual works and related versions, similar to ISBN for books. It was developed within an International Organization for Standardization, ISO (International Organiza ...
(ISAN), the International Standard Text Code (ISTC) and the International Standard Name Identifier (ISNI), a unique identifying number linked to contributors (such as a
songwriter A songwriter is a person who creates musical compositions or writes lyrics for songs, or both. The writer of the music for a song can be called a composer, although this term tends to be used mainly in the classical music genre and film scoring. ...
or
publisher Publishing is the activities of making information, literature, music, software, and other content, physical or digital, available to the public for sale or free of charge. Traditionally, the term publishing refers to the creation and distribu ...
) and which complements CISAC's Interested Party Information (IPI) System where more detailed information on the rights owner, accessible to authors societies, is held. CISAC released "CIS-Net powered by FastTrack" in 2004, an Internet-based network for sharing musical works information between authors' societies."CISAC Announces Launch of CIS Net Using FastTrack Technology"
''BMI'', 2004
CISAC is also in the process of developing IDA, an International Database for Audiovisual works and their rights holders. By facilitating the identification of creative works and their relevant rights holders, such tools aim to speed up the distribution of royalties to creators for use of their works. In 2004, CISAC revised its statutes, creating an annual general assembly and a board of directors to oversee CISAC's actions, allowing CISAC to impose rules on its members to ensure high professional standards and enabling CISAC to dedicate more resources to getting creators directly involved in the defence of their rights. In June 2007, CISAC's general assembly elected singer-songwriter Robin Gibb (
Bee Gees The Bee Gees were a musical group formed in 1958 by brothers Barry Gibb, Barry, Robin Gibb, Robin, and Maurice Gibb. The trio was especially successful in popular music in the late 1960s and early 1970s, and later as prominent performers in ...
) as CISAC's president and Mexican film director
Alfonso Cuarón Alfonso Cuarón Orozco ( ; ; born 28 November 1961) is a Mexican filmmaker. List of awards and nominations received by Alfonso Cuarón, His accolades include four Academy Awards, three Golden Globe Awards and seven BAFTA Awards. Cuarón made h ...
as vice-president. Gibb's 3-year term was renewed in June 2010. French visual artist and painter Hervé Di Rosa, co-founder of the artistic movement " Figuration libre", was elected vice-president in 2010. The role of CISAC president and vice-president is to voice the opinion of the international community of creators and to defend the system of collective management that protects their rights. Over the years, this role has been fulfilled by several renowned creators, such as Robert de Flers,
Richard Strauss Richard Georg Strauss (; ; 11 June 1864 – 8 September 1949) was a German composer and conductor best known for his Tone poems (Strauss), tone poems and List of operas by Richard Strauss, operas. Considered a leading composer of the late Roman ...
, Armand Salacrou, and Leopold Sedar Senghor. From 2007 to 2013, CISAC has organised the biennial World Creators Summit, an international forum for stakeholders to discuss the future of copyright and creators' interests in the digital era. CISAC adopted a series of professional rules for all of its member societies in 2008. The professional rules are a set of criteria related to the management of rights and the collection and distribution of royalties by which CISAC member societies should abide. The objective of these rules is to ensure that CISAC's members operate according to high standards of professionalism. The initiative was developed to reflect greater transparency by authors' societies towards various stakeholder groupings and the media. The president of CISAC is Swedish songwriter
Björn Ulvaeus Björn Kristian Ulvaeus (; born 25 April 1945) is a Swedish musician, singer, songwriter, and producer best known as a member of the musical group ABBA. He is also the co-composer of the musicals ''Chess (musical), Chess'', ''Kristina från Duve ...
, who was appointed in May 2020. His predecessor was French electronic music composer
Jean Michel Jarre Jean-Michel André Jarre (; born 24 August 1948) is a French composer, performer and record producer. He is a pioneer in the electronic, ambient and new-age genres, and is known for organising outdoor spectacles featuring his music, accompan ...
, who served as president since June 2013. In 2013, the organisation expanded its vice presidency to four new positions, allowing for the representation of more territories and a broader range of creative repertoires. The four new vice presidents were Angélique Kidjo, a Grammy Award-winning performing artist and activist from Benin,
Javed Akhtar Javed Akhtar (born 1945) is an Indian screenwriter, lyricist and poet. Known for his work in Hindi cinema, he has won five National Film Awards, and received the Padma Shri in 1999 and the Padma Bhushan in 2007, two of India's highest civili ...
, a celebrated scriptwriter, poet, lyricist from India, Marcelo Piñeyro, an Academy Award-winning producer and film director from Argentina, and Ousmane Sow, a revered sculptor from Senegal. The current CISAC vice presidents are: Yvonne Chaka Chaka, Arturo Márquez, Kazuhiko Fukuoji, and Ángeles González-Sinde Reig.


Mission and goals

CISAC works to protect the rights and promote the interests of creators across all regions of the world and artistic fields; music, audiovisual, drama, literature and visual arts. It enables collective management organisations to seamlessly represent creators internationally and ensure that royalties flow to authors for the use of their works anywhere in the world. CISAC provides business, legal, and IT support to protect creators' rights and to foster the development of the international network of collective management societies (CMOs).


Membership

As of June, 2024 CISAC's a membership organisation includes 227 authors' societies from 116 countries, indirectly representing more than five million creators. There are three membership categories, depending on a society's status and operations: Member, Provisional and Associate. Authors' societies are largely non-profit organisations that are established by creators to facilitate the management of their rights. As it is very difficult for an individual creator to monitor all uses of their work and negotiate payment for these uses, many choose to entrust their rights to an authors' society. An authors' society's primary activities is to grant licenses and collect royalties and distribute royalties to the right holders for the use of their works.


Funding

CISAC's budget comes from annual membership dues, which are based on a percentage of the gross royalties collected annually by each member society.


Organisation

Revolving around the General Assembly, CISAC's highest representative entity, CISAC is composed of different administrative bodies that guide its operations and strategy.


General Assembly

CISAC's general assembly is composed of delegates from all of CISAC's Member societies. The general assembly elects the board of directors and CISAC's president and vice-president, and endorses the main resolutions, decisions and plans put forth by the board of directors. Only members have the right to vote at the general assembly.


President and vice-president

The role of CISAC's president and vice-president is to represent the international community of creators and to defend the system of collective management that protects their rights.


Board of directors

A board of directors composed of representatives from 20 of CISAC's member societies and elected by the General Assembly for a three-year period to govern CISAC's activities. The Board's composition reflects CISAC's geographical diversity and the multitude of artistic repertoires it represents. The current chairman of the board is Eric Baptiste, CEO of SOCAN, a music authors' society in Canada ; the vice-chairmen are Javier Gutiérrez Vicen, CEO of Visual Entidad de Gestión de Artistas Plásticos (VEGAP), a visual arts authors' society in Spain, and Marisa Gandelman, CEO União Brasileira de compositores (UBC), a music authors' society in Brazil.


Secretariat

CISAC's director general is Gadi Oron, who was appointed in September, 2014. A lawyer by trade and an expert in international copyright law, Oron has been working with the creative industry for over 15 years. He joined CISAC in 2012 as General Counsel of the organisation.


Committees

CISAC has created a variety of committees that address a wide range of legal, strategic, technical, regional or creative issues related to authors' rights and serve to provide guidance on the operational aspects of the organisation.


Services and activities

CISAC's main activities are: setting professional standards for authors' societies; implementing information systems to facilitate the identification of creative works and their relevant rights holders in order to precipitate the distribution of royalties to creators; contributing to the development of authors' societies around the world; advocating for authors' rights internationally; and building strategies to help societies deal with the changes brought on by the digital era. CISAC is an active participant within the international intellectual property community and collaborates with the UN's
World Intellectual Property Organization The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO; (OMPI)) is one of the 15 specialized agencies of the United Nations (UN). Pursuant to the 1967 Convention Establishing the World Intellectual Property Organization, WIPO was created to pr ...
(WIPO) and the
UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...
on matters of mutual interest.


Setting professional rules and standards for authors' societies

CISAC provides tools to its members that promote best business practices for all repertoires, including:


CISAC model contracts for "reciprocal representation"

Reciprocal representation principles are the basis of the international network of authors' societies. They make it possible for one society to represent the worldwide creative repertoire in their home territory. For example, if a Spanish society and an Australian society have signed a "reciprocal representation" agreement, the Spanish society can represent the Australian society's repertoire in Spain and the Australian society can represent the Spanish society's repertoire in Australia. They grant licenses for uses of each other's repertoires and collect royalties for these uses. Through this system of agreements, a content user (e.g. a radio broadcaster or a night club) can obtain a single license from their local authors' society for use of the worldwide repertoire of creative works. This makes it possible for creators to receive royalties for uses of their works all over the world.


Professional rules and binding resolutions

In 2008, CISAC implemented a set of Professional Rules – binding principles with which all of CISAC's members must comply. They include best practices in governance, financial management, communication, administration, and the management and exchange of information relating to creative works and their relevant right holders.


Information networks and smart metadata

CISAC manages an international information system (called the Common Information System or CIS) for the exchange of information about works, their usage and the relevant rights holders between authors' societies.


Advocating for authors' rights

Another branch of CISAC's activities is advocating for authors' rights and serving as a spokesperson for its members at the international level. CISAC works in close collaboration with authors' societies and governments to ensure local laws uphold authors' rights. It organises and participates in numerous training programmes and seminars for judges and content users that aim to deepen their understanding of copyright, authors' rights and licensing.


Resale rights campaign

Together with European Visual Artists (EVA), the European Grouping of Societies of Authors and Composers (GESAC) and other visual arts societies, CISAC has orchestrated an international campaign for the universal implementation of artists' resale right. Efforts focus on promoting a new international treaty that would remedy existing shortfalls and introduce the resale right as a mandatory element of copyright protection.


Global policy and government relations

CISAC monitors international developments and participates in negotiations on new treaties and other copyright-related initiatives. CISAC also weighs in on other treaty-related discussions taking place within the framework of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) in Geneva. In a high-level meeting held in February 2014, a CISAC delegation of creators' representatives met with WIPO's director general to agree on joint projects and promote increased visibility for creators within WIPO.


World Copyright Summit

Historically, CISAC organised the World Copyright Summit, which subsequently became the World Creators Summit, an international forum that brought together authors' societies, creators, industry leaders from the technology and entertainment sectors, policymakers and consumer representatives to discuss the future of copyright/authors' rights and creativity in the digital era. Four summits were held in 2007, 2009, 2011 and 2013.


Studies and reports


The Creative Industries and the BRICS

In 2014, CISAC released an economic study that identifies the potential within Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa (BRICS) to increase their creative industries' and contribution to GDP over the next ten years. The study includes an action plan for policymakers to unlock the potential of the creative industry in these regions.


Cultural Times – The First Global Map of Cultural and Creative Industries

In 2015, CISAC published a survey prepared by Ernst & Young, that quantifies the global economic and social contribution of the creative sector, analyzing 11 Cultural and Creative Industries (CCI): advertising, architecture, books, gaming, movies, music, newspapers/magazines, performing arts, radio, television and visual arts.


Global Collections Report

CISAC publishes an annual report on its members' royalty collections. The report analyses royalty collections by region, repertoire and type of rights and looks at market trends affecting the use of creative works and the payment of royalties.


Key figures

227 authors' societies in 116 countries (as of June, 2024) Including: * 110 societies in Europe * 46 societies in Latin American and the Caribbean * 30 societies in Africa * 30 societies in Asia-Pacific * 11 societies in North America (Canada – United States) Global Royalty Collections in 2023 by all of CISAC's Members:"Global Public Performance Collections Grew 7.6% to New High of $12.7B in 2023"
''Billboard'', 2024
* 13.1bn total collections by CISAC member societies * +7.6% growth in total collections in constant euro (year-on-year) * +2.8% growth in total collections in current euros (year-on-year) * Music accounted for 87% of overall collections, up 7.6% * Non-music collections accounted for 13.0% of overall collections, up 5.2% * Performing Rights made up 79% of total collections, up 22% * +8.1% growth in Europe (54.7% of total collections) * +11% growth in BRICS countries


Controversy

The so-called "CISAC Case" was a competition law case brought by the
European Commission The European Commission (EC) is the primary Executive (government), executive arm of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with a number of European Commissioner, members of the Commission (directorial system, informall ...
against a group of authors' societies in Europe. It specifically concerned performance rights in music repertoires and the relationship between authors' societies managing rights in music content. The proceedings focused on specific provisions in the reciprocal representation agreements signed between these societies. These provisions were based on a Model Contract for Reciprocal Representation, developed by CISAC. 2008 Decision The commission's decision alleged that the 24 European Economic Area (EEA) societies had engaged in concerted practices and illegally reached an arrangement on the territorial scope of their respective reciprocal representation agreements. CISAC was not included in the decision, nor were there any monetary penalties for the societies. CISAC and 21 of the 24 EEA societies appealed the decision before the EU General Court in October 2008. Final ruling On 12 April 2013, the EU General Court issued its ruling in the 2008 appeal. The judgement annulled the 2008 decision of the EU Commission.


See also

* List of copyright collection societies *
Authors' rights "Authors' rights" is a term frequently used in connection with Intellectual property, laws about intellectual property. The term is considered as a direct translation of the French language, French term (also German language, German ). It was fi ...
*
Copyright A copyright is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the exclusive legal right to copy, distribute, adapt, display, and perform a creative work, usually for a limited time. The creative work may be in a literary, artistic, ...
*
Cultural industry The term culture industry () was coined by the critical theorists Theodor Adorno (1903–1969) and Max Horkheimer (1895–1973), and was presented as critical vocabulary in the chapter "The Culture Industry: Enlightenment as Mass Deception", o ...
* Cultural property law *
Droit de suite ''Droit de suite'' ( French for "right to follow") or Artist's Resale Right (ARR) is a right granted to artists or their heirs, in some jurisdictions, to receive a fee on the resale of their works of art. This should be contrasted with policies su ...
*
Intellectual property Intellectual property (IP) is a category of property that includes intangible creations of the human intellect. There are many types of intellectual property, and some countries recognize more than others. The best-known types are patents, co ...
* Intellectual rights


Notes and references


External links

*
World Creative
{{DEFAULTSORT:Confederation Internationale des Societes d'Auteurs et Compositeurs Music organizations based in France Intellectual property organizations Music industry associations International organizations based in France