Why should you join Sacem?

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Why join Sacem? Distribution

While protecting your musical creations, you can benefit of receiving your royalties whenever your works are played, and prevent your work from being used and broadcasted without your consent.

By joining the SACEM Luxembourg, you become a member of the ‘general’ SACEM and you join more than 224.000 creators and publishers that SACEM represents.

Why should I protect my musical creations ?

While protecting your musical creations, you can benefit of receiving your royalties whenever your works are played, and prevent your work from being used and broadcasted without your consent.

How can I protect my musical creations?

In Luxembourg, it is by joining the SACEM Luxembourg that authors and composers protect their works, once they are:

Either a commercial recording on CD, DVD or any other multimedia support system
Either performed during a concert
Either broadcasted over the radio, on television or over the Internet

There are also other ways to protect your work, as for example under the form of registered mail send to yourself, or the ‘Ipil’.

Further information regarding the letter is available on their official Benelux website of the intellectual property: https://ipil.lu/fr/

Commitments

You should know that through your membership:

you agree to deposit all your works
you agree to observe the provisions of the Statutes and General Regulations of Sacem
you provide the company with the right to authorize or prohibit the performance or public performance (concert, show, television, radio, etc.) and reproduction (records, cassettes, videos, etc.) of your works
you also retain the full exercise of your moral rights: no arrangement or adaptation of your works can be filed without your consent.

How can I protect my musical creations?When do I get my royalties? Is it only SACEM Luxembourg that distributes royalties?

Have your works already been broadcasted in public or been reproduced ?

If the answer is yes, then there you already have one of the reasons why you should join SACEM Luxembourg. We do not only ensure legal protection, but also the perception and distribution of the royalties for the public distribution of your works (radio, TV, concerts, shows,…), as well as the reproduction on CD, DVD, CD-ROM,…) or on any other hard drive support (USB, multimedia reader, SD card,…).

All the registered works, memberships and accounts are managed daily in our computer database, just as well for Luxembourg, as for foreign countries.

SACEM represents more than 224,000 members, including 1800 Luxembourgish members and has a repertoire of over 62 million works worldwide!

SACEM distributes royalties

It is made in two stages:

1. Assignment of royalties:

When a musical work is performed publicly: "performing right royalties". The lists of the used works are combined with the sums paid by the broadcaster. The rights are determined, for every work, according to its duration and of the number of times it’s being broadcasted.

The right to reproduce a piece of music onto CDs, DVDs, records or tapes: "mechanical rights". The distribution is made according to the duration of each of the works appearing on the recording and of the number of produced copies.

2. Division of the sums between the various creators of every work:

A work can be written by one or more people, published or not, being used in public and/or reproduced (CD, audio cassette or video). For each work, the amount allocated to rights holders is determined according to different splits.

The royalties are distributed as follows:

Performing right royalties: For radio, television, concerts, dances and all public performances of works, the split is statutory and does not vary.

Mechanical reproduction rights (phonograms, videograms): The split is contractual. it is based on an agreement reached between a work’s creators and the publisher, if applicable. The split is specified on the registration form.

The document below will inform you about the different distribution methodologies.

Watch the video « Synthèse de mes répartitions" et "Mes répartitions détaillées" available on your member area.

To accompany in an interactive way the reading and the understanding of your distribution leaflets, SACEM provides you with two services allowing the display of your rights by origin, by family and by country.

How does Sacem distribute the royalties?

SACEM distributes the collected royalties

How does Sacem distribute?

All the fees collected are distributed as royalties, after deducting operating expenses and funds dedicated to social actions and cultural programs.

The distribution is done in two stages:

1. Affectation for each work:

Publicly performed works (originating from public broadcasting): also known as performing rights. The royalties for each song are based on the duration and the number of times they were played.
Reproduced works (CD, audio tapes and video) : also known as mechanical royalty or reproduction right. The royalties for each song are based on the duration and the number of copies reproduced.

2. Distribution of the amounts among the rights holders for each work:

The song can be written by one or more persons, can be edited or not, can be played in public and/or reproduced (CD, audio tapes and video). Partage des sommes entre les différents ayants droit de chaque œuvre: several key information-sharing activities apply to each case.

The royalties are distributed:

For the representation and reproduction rights (statutory rights): by thirds between the author, the composer and the publisher of the song. -> 25% of royalties go to the author, 25% to the composer and 50% to the publisher.
For the reproduction rights, they depend on an agreement established between the rights holders.

The document below will give you details on the different distribution rules.

Distribution Calender

There are four distributions each year :

In January and July :

Distribution of radio, television and 'general royalties’ (concerts, galas, balls, public places using background music for business purposes,…), reproduction royalties (CDs, tapes,…) and royalties generated from cinemas.

In April and Octobre :

Distribution of royalties coming from foreign countries, private copy levies, cinemas and videographic reproduction rights.

At each distribution, the royalties collected, over either a semester or trimester, are apportioned (causing a smaller burden on administration costs). Thus, the royalties collected over the period of the 1st semester of the year are distributed in January of the following year and so on.

‘Non Identified’ Works

Even though SACEM can draw on a global repertoire of 118 million works, there some works that are not yet identified or registered at SACEM. At the moment, these royalties cannot yet be distributed; however, research is being done in order for SACEM to be able to do so: we either contact our members so that they hand us in the information missing, or we contact foreign author societies. If no result can be found and case we still can’t seek out the rights owner, the amount collected from these works are distributed among our members.

For more information

please send us an email at
info@sacemlux.lu