“It is an undeniable progress regarding the recognition of authors and the respect of their rights,” said Alain Chamfort, singer-songwriter and vice-president of the Board of Directors of Sacem (Society of Authors, Composers, and Publishers of Music). This progress comes from Sacem and Google’s video platform, YouTube. On September 30, 2010, they signed an agreement to remunerate the production of authors, writer-directors, comedians, composers, and music publishers whose repertoire is managed by Sacem. This contract covers the online broadcast of the global music repertoire, including Anglo-Saxon, managed by Sacem in the French, Luxembourgish, and Monegasque territories. It applies to all videos containing music: concerts, family films, clips, sketches, filmed karaoke, amateur videos, artist self-promotion, etc. This agreement is particularly meaningful in light of the persistent issue of piracy. The video-sharing site, which allows for the free promotion of artists, has been the subject of numerous lawsuits for illegal content use.
Artist remunerations will be calculated based on the advertising revenue generated by the YouTube page hosting the video, through banners, sponsored links, and “pre-roll” ads (ads integrated into the video). This agreement is retroactive: it starts from January 1, 2006, and extends until December 31, 2012.
This is sure to delight authors: every minute, over twenty-four hours of videos are uploaded to YouTube.”
