SGAE It is celebrating its 125th anniversary after leaving behind a cycle of serious civil unrest. An opportunity?
We can celebrate that we have come out of a huge crisis, normalized the household, and returned to the collection levels of 15 years ago. We no longer have outstanding debts to Culture or international organizations that brought us to the brink of extinction five years ago.
The ‘Wheel’ episode damaged the image of the entity, where some members earned huge incomes as dawn television writers, performing compositions that were often their own but not their own, with small audiences. accredited in its own name. The case went to court national audience. At what point?
The investigation is over and now there will have to be a hearing, which I don’t know when that will be. Some authors are being prosecuted for falsifying works that are claimed to have been registered as their own and that have provided them with great benefits. This is one thing, the other is distortion of distribution; because distribution did not respond to the principle that it is fair and proportionate to the audience and the consumption it creates. This was legal for a while, but it was scandalous and had to be limited. But we have already fulfilled what the Ministry asked of us and have been re-admitted to CISAC, the international organization of writer communities.
Approximately 50% of partners are in Madrid; 20 to 25% in Barcelona, the rest distributed throughout the country
This 125th anniversary offers a comprehensive program of activities that will culminate in the awarding of medals to today’s most important writers on June 14, the day SGAE was founded in 1899. Before that there is the ‘SGAE es urban’ festival. Do young urban artists perceive SGAE as a possible ally or as a strange actor who is part of the system?
Youth has a natural tendency towards rebellion, and the young artist has this tendency even more so. But once his work starts generating rights, it takes him ten minutes to realize that ‘copyright’ is great, but he likes ‘copyright’ better. The person who produces the royalties quickly realizes that he needs a management organization to collect them, because they belong to him.
A. moradFor example, in SGAE?
I don’t know because thank God there are 132,000 members. But Quevedo is in SGAE. And Rosalía retains part of SGAE, although it is now in the American copyright agency.
There is a huge picaresque mentality in Spain. I don’t know if we can find out how many people pay VAT.
There is a law about this Artificial intelligence The European Union is on its way. ChatGPT He acknowledged that he could not work without violating copyright. How to combine this?
It seems like opening the door to the field, but that’s what lawyers are for. At that time, SGAE and writers were faced with the appearance of gramophone, radio, television, digital platforms… Now we are laying the foundations of a regulation that will allow writers to benefit from the machines they use to create their works. to educate themselves. And so that anyone who hears or sees something made with AI knows that it was made by a machine, not a human.
Meanwhile, live music, which is very organic, is experiencing days of expansion. It is argued that 8.5 percent of the box office should be paid to SGAE. In England, this rate is 3 percent. Could this change?
We have almost the same rates as other countries in the world and, above all, in Europe. It is slightly lower in the United Kingdom, but not in the European Union. On the European average we are between 7 and 8.5% because there are specific cases where lower rates may apply.
Do all promoters and festivals diligently pay SGAE for artists’ repertoire? concerts What are they organizing?
There is a huge picaresque mentality in Spain. I don’t know if we can find out how many people pay VAT. Yes, there are opportunists who take a job, and if they can save it, then better, but less and less. Most often it is the municipal councils that pay after twelve months or two years.
The 125th anniversary program begins next Monday with a concert in Palau by Orquestra Simfònica del Vallès, conducted by Miquel Ortega. Why Barcelona?
We wanted the celebrations to be widespread, not Madrid-centered. We have operations in at least the seven cities where we are based: Madrid, Barcelona, Seville, Valencia, Bilbao, Santiago and Las Palmas. In the case of Barcelona, we will give this concert and then the tribute to Carmen Amaya, organized together with Taller de Músics (on April 9 at Paral·lel 62).
Almost 25% of SGAE members are in Catalonia?
It fluctuates, but about 50% is in Madrid; In Barcelona it is between 20 and 25%, the rest is distributed throughout the country.
His term ends in November. Will it appear again?
In principle, my term ends here. It’s not the time to talk about this yet. However, it is worth emphasizing that for the first time after Teddy Bautista’s term, the same person is at the head of the institution for four consecutive years. It says a lot about the stability of the asset.