Artisti has recently received a large royalty payment from the French collective management organization  SPEDIDAM as a global settlement of the royalty payments for 2005 to 2009 inclusively.

The sums paid by SPEDIDAM were established according to an estimate of the annual sums due for the use of Artisti’s repertoire in France, an estimate which was based on the distribution of the SPEDIDAM royalties for the year 2010.

If SPEDIDAM will provide us with usage data that will allow us to distribute 25% of the sums to our members, it will however be up to Artisti to establish its own distribution model for the remaining 75% of the royalties since the SPEDIDAM is unable to provide data for the uses which mainly took place in venues where music is played. This will be a delicate exercise since this model will have to allow a fair distribution of these sums and be as close as possible to what would have been a distribution based on broadcast data in these venues of France.

We understand that SPEDIDAM normally distributes primarily to accompanying artists or artists who are part of ensembles (while ADAMI – the other French society, distributes royalties to featured artists), and knowing this, we therefore plan to proceed with the constitution of an advisory committee made up of members belonging to these categories of artists and potentially concerned by the royalties of SPEDIDAM, all in order to support us in the search for a fair model that responds as best as possible the expectations of our members. The possibility of surveying these categories of members is also envisaged.

In order to proceed with the formation of the Advisory Committee, we will shortly be issuing a call for applications. However, if you wish to signal your interest in this possible Committee right away, you can immediately inform Ali Mafi by sending him an email to the following address: amafi@artisti.ca, if you reply to the two following criteria:

• You are an accompanying musician or backup vocalist or part of an ensemble
• You have taken part in recording sessions in France or have become aware that sound recordings in which you participate (no matter where they were fixed) are played in France, whether on the radio or in venues.

By getting involved with this committee, you will be able to ensure that the preferred distribution model meets your expectations and those of your peers.