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SACEM ends dispute with Universal Music sister company Canal+

By | Published on Wednesday 11 October 2017

SACEM

French collecting society SACEM yesterday announced it had reached a settlement with broadcaster Canal+, bringing to an end a dispute over royalties that had been building for a while. It was a rather interesting squabble, of course, given Canal+ is owned by Vivendi, and is therefore a sister company of Universal Music Publishing, a key member and ally of SACEM, and a beneficiary of the royalties the society collects.

The song rights society says that its agreement covers both royalties due for this year and sets in place a licensing arrangement that will run until at least the end of 2019. This, adds SACEM, “will enable creators to receive payment in a satisfactory way”, and as such the society is dropping its legal action against the Vivendi subsidiary.

Confirming a settlement had been reached, SACEM boss Jean-Noël Tronc said: “SACEM has defended the interests of its members uncompromisingly, to guarantee everyone the fairest remuneration terms. Once again, SACEM has demonstrated the importance of the collective management model in defending the rights of creators. We hope that the strategic repositioning of Canal+ Group will allow it to successfully re-establish itself to the benefit of the entire creative ecosystem”.

Speaking for Canal+, Jean-Christophe Thiery said: “Canal+ Group is delighted to have entered this new partnership with SACEM for the coming years, which takes into account our new offers to subscribers and particularly the amount of sports on our channels and in our packages. With this agreement, our group renews its commitment to the financing of creation and support of authors in France”.



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