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CISAC reports ‘sharp’ rise in collections in Greece and global music identifier system progress in annual report

France-headquartered International Confederation of Societies of Authors and Composers (CISAC) has published its latest annual report, which provides an overview of its work with its 227 member CMOs across the world.

Within the report, CISAC says that it has seen a “sharp” rise in collections in Greece, where it notes that five years ago, “the market’s collective management landscape was in turmoil”.

CISAC adds that “there was no properly functioning society” in Greece at the time and that “the market had effectively collapsed and music creators were missing out on tens of millions of euros due to them in royalties”.

MBW reported on Greece’s then scandal-hit authors’ rights sector at the time. The country’s major CMO, AEPI (the Hellenic Society for Protection of Intellectual Property), was investigated by the country’s Public Prosecutor in March 2017 after widespread allegations of corruption.

In early 2018, the Government permanently revoked the license of the (former family-run) AEPI and decided to set up a new state-owned authors society, called the EYED.

A key government official, Irini Stamatoudi, who was at the centre of efforts to rebuild the sector, then quit her job as head of the Greek Copyright Office (OPI).

In 2018, CISAC says that it launched a project to support AUTODIA, a small nonprofit CMO set up by a group of creators who left the former for-profit society AEPI.

CISAC notes that “the aim was to reboot the society, restore stability to the Greek market and establish a well-functioning entity compliant with CISAC’s professional standards. The ultimate objective was to revive the flow of royalty income to creators and publishers”.

AUTODIA is now a well-functioning society according to CISAC, with collections rising from a “negligible” €393,000 in 2017 to more than €16.4 million last year, with a 68% increase in 2022 alone.

Looking ahead, CISAC says the society forecasts “another big increase in 2023, with the next distribution in July expected to be nearly double that of July 2022”.

Elsewhere in its annual report, CISAC details its progress with its tracking system for musical works.

The ISWC, or International Standard Musical Work Code, is a code system that identifies musical works to help remunerate creators and publishers.

CISAC upgraded the system in 2020 and said it would improve the speed, accuracy and efficiency of its member organizations’ work in tracking creators’ works and ensuring…

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