Intellectual Property

Legislation on intellectual property foresees

• that a company or an entertainment organiser can only represent a work with the express written consent of the author or his/her beneficiaries;
• that the author or his/her beneficiaries will receive remuneration proportional to revenue from the exploitation of his/her work; this is the copyright.

Before starting rehearsals, moving forward with your project and prior to developing the production concerned and/or the show’s tour, the first step is to request authorisation from the beneficiaries of the work by sending a request via SACD 6 months before rehearsals begin.

Send your authorisation request by email to poleauteurs@sacd.fr or by post to SACD, Pôle Auteurs - 9 rue Ballu - 75442 Paris cedex 09 – in order to obtain the authorisation to adapt (where appropriate) and represent the work.
A form is available on our website www.sacd.fr in the ‘Download’ area.

This request for authorisation must state the composition of the show (associated works: stage music, stage production, choreography, etc. borrowed pre-existing musical works, literary, etc.), the territorial scope and the duration of the authorisation desired. The curriculum vitae of the producer and actors must be provided, as well as the artistic trajectory of the entertainment provider. The entertainment organiser must in addition respect the generic title of the work.
Warning: the request for authorisation does not amount to authorisation.
Once agreement from the author has been received, a contract will be drawn up that will outline the duration and location of the exploitation of the work, as well as the conditions for copyright levies.
 

SACD levies

SACD minimum financial levies:

• 10.5% of box office revenues excluding VAT or of the full amount excl. VAT collected by the entertainment organiser under copyright. In the absence of box office revenues and sale prices, the collection is based on a guaranteed minimum per representation, calculated either on the expenditure budget, or depending on the financial capacity of the performance space, or set in agreement with the author.
• 2.1% or 1/5th of the guaranteed minimum in accordance with administrative and social security contributions (calculated on the same base).
• 1.1% of the copyright, Agessa contribution.

The amounts outlined above are subject to VAT at the current rate.

Where appropriate, original stage music duties may be payable in addition to the duty rate defined above. They are calculated according to the duration of the music (0.10% per minute). If the music is recorded, a DRM (music reproduction right) will be collected in addition.
So as to protect the rights of authors, the SACD can determine advance payments - calculated according to the number of performances planned – that the company must pay the SACD upon signing the contract.

Warning, these conditions are indicative, the author or his/her beneficiaries will have the opportunity to set conditions greater than those indicated above. After the performances, the duly completed revenue declaration form should be returned to the SACD, to proceed with the copyright invoicing for which you will be liable.
 

Author and producer

In cases where the author, as director of the producing company, exploits his/her own work, it is not necessary to request authorisation.
Copyright will be invoiced according to the conditions outlined above, but without enforcing a guaranteed minimum so as to take account of its special status. An exoneration of copyright levies may also be requested under certain conditions.

An exoneration of copyright levies is possible for shows with limited means performed by authors who produce their own shows.

This duty exemption is reserved for ‘authors/producers’ and subject to the following cumulative conditions:

• The author/producer is responsible for copyright payments,
• It concerns shows with limited means,
• The author/producer is the only author of the work (joint authorship involving other author members of the SACD will not be accepted, even if the co-authors are also members of the producing company),
• The show must not have been subject to a transfer contract
• The author-producer should have declared the work to the SACD repertoire and requested the exemption measures at least 1 month before the start of the performances.

This exceptional request should be submitted to the Direction du Spectacle Vivant - Pôle Autorisations et contrats (Performing Arts Board – authorisations and contracts division), together with supporting documents. It must be validated by the Direction du Spectacle Vivant.

For further information, contact us or go directly to www.sacd.fr.

Musical, comedy show (sketches), choreographic show, music playback, contemporary circus, illusion show, theatre show with accompanying music (stage music, puppets), etc.
Are you using works from the Sacem repertoire in your show?

Why should you declare your show to SACEM?

When creating, producing and presenting musical, dance, comedy, young audience, contemporary circus, illusion, magic, puppets and pantomime performances, as well as stage music for theatre, works from the Sacem repertoire are used that already exist or that are created specifically for your show. 

In addition to music, Sacem also represents authors in other creative fields such as comedy, poetry, sketches, audiovisual productions, etc.

Advance declaration of your show enables you to protect your productions and ensure a fair distribution of rights due to the authors, whose works you bring to life.

By declaring your show before the first performance, you benefit from a 20% reduction on copyright.
 

Declaration to the Avignon delegation:

You must send the completed authorisation request to the Avignon delegation as well as the programme of works performed. An advisor will contact you to validate your file.

Please note
Sending the programme facilitates exchanges between producers, presenters and the delegation. This ensures fair remuneration for authors whose works you have used and encourages creation.
 

Filling out the programme of works:

This programme is vital for calculating entitlements and for fair distribution.

For each work clearly indicate:

• Its title
• Its author(s)/composer(s)/editor(s) 
• Its duration 

For the show

• Its total duration 

Download the programme of works presented
 

Sending your declaration: 

To help you with any queries: 

Délégation régionale d’Avignon
Tel: +33 (0) 4 86 06 32 30
Email: dl.avignon@sacem.fr
Address: 46, rue de la Balance CS 80072
84 005 Avignon Cedex

Times

During the festival
The team will be delighted to welcome you throughout the festival. 
Make an appointment: +33 (0) 4 86 06 32 30 or send your request to: dl.avignon@sacem.fr

During the year

The team will be delighted to welcome you:

Monday to Thursday: 9h-12h/14h-17h30

Friday: 9h-12h/14h-17h

THE Sacem supports your cultural projects and has been developing aid schemes for live entertainment for 50 years. Look at the 45 aid schemes that were developed in 2016 on Sacem.fr.

The rights of performers (CPI, art. L. 212-1 s.)

The protection benefits performers defined as "a person who represents, sings, recites, performs, plays or executes in any other way a literary or artistic work, a variety, circus or puppet show" (CPI, art. L. 212-1). The profession of performer excludes extras, considered as so for commercial purposes, and technicians.

Performers have two types of rights over their performances:

• Moral rights "Performers have the right for their name, quality and performance to be respected. This inalienable and imprescriptible right remains the prerogative. It can be transmitted to heirs for the protection of the performance and in honour of the deceased" (CPI, art. L. 212-2). These prerogatives enable the performer to be identified and to oppose any misrepresentation of his/her performance.
• Patrimonial prerogatives. The performer benefits from the right to authorise the fixation of his/her performance, reproduction and communication to the public, as well as any use distinct from the performance sound and image in the case of fixed sound and image. The use of the artist’s performance, for these operations, requires his/her written consent. According to the situation, the remuneration received may or may not have the structure of a salary (CPI, art. L. 212-3).

In the event of a contract entered into for audiovisual productions, intellectual property law makes provision for a presumption of transfer of rights of the performer to the producer. Indeed, ‘signing the contract between a performer and a producer for an audiovisual production provides authorisation to determine, reproduce and communicate the performer’s performance to the public.’ Nonetheless, the contract must determine separate remuneration for each means of using the work (CPI, art. L. 212-4).
All these rights operate together with those recognised by the labour code for performers.

The rights of phonogram (CPI, art. L. 213-1) and videograms (CPI, art. L. 215-1) producers

Are beneficiaries of protection:
- The phonogram producer is defined as the individual or legal entity, who has the initiative and
responsibility for initial sound fixation sequences (CPI, art. L. 213-1);
- The videogram producer defined as the individual or legal entity, who has the initiative and
responsibility for initial image fixation sequences with or without sound (CPI, art. L.215-1).
The producer is the person who, on the one hand, takes the initiative for the recording and fixation and, on the other, bears all financial risks. In this sense, the producer, fully responsible for the implementation of the necessary means to produce an initial recording, is therefore different from the recording producer.
Phonogram and videogram producers benefit not only from the exclusive right to authorise or forbid direct or indirect use and reproduction of their recording medium but also to control any use, reproduction, made available to the public, whether in the form of a sale, an exchange or lease, as well as any communication of the work to the public, including on-demand provision on digital networks.
Regarding the use of phonograms published for commercial purposes, the law adjusts a legal licence (CPI, art. L. 214-1).

These different uses give producers and performers, whose regime is established by articles L. 124-1 and following of the intellectual property code, entitlement to remuneration. It is a question of equitable remuneration, shared equally between producers and artists, collected by the Société pour la Perception de la Rémunération Equitable (SPRE), a joint venture between societies for performers and producers, that collects remuneration for the communication to the public of phonograms of a commercial nature.
 

The rights of audiovisual communication companies (CPI, art. L. 216-1 s.)

Audiovisual communication companies are defined as organisations that use an audiovisual communication service under the law n° 86-1067 dated 30th September 1986 on freedom of communication.
Audiovisual communication is all communications to the public of radio or television services, regardless of practical arrangements for making them available to the public, all electronic communications to the public of services other than radio and television and beyond the scope of online communication to the public such as defined in article 1 of Act n° 2004-575 dated 21st June 2004 for confidence in the digital economy, as well as all communications to the public of on-demand audiovisual media services. The law subjects the reproduction of programmes to the authorisation of audiovisual communication companies, as well as their availability to the public by sale, hire or exchange, broadcasting and communication in a place accessible to the public for an entry fee.

Exceptions to neighbouring rights (CPI, art. L. 211-3 s.)

The law provides for exceptions common to all beneficiaries of neighbouring rights.
Performers, phonogram and videogram producers and audiovisual communication companies cannot prohibit certain reproductions or representations of their performances in the cases listed in article L. 211-3 of the intellectual property code:
• a temporary reproduction being of a transitional or incidental nature, when it is an integral and essential part of a technical process and its only purpose is to enable legitimate use of subject matter or its transmission through third parties by means of a network calling upon an intermediary;
• communication to the public and the reproduction of extracts of subject matter for educational use;
• the reproduction and communication to the public of subject matter for the benefit of disabled people;
• the reproduction of subject matter for conservation purposes or to maintain conditions for consultation by libraries, archives and museums;
• private and free representation carried out solely in a family circle. For the benefit of holders of neighbouring rights the law establishes a right to remuneration on the grounds of reproduction for private use of performances fixed in phonograms or videograms (CPI, art. L. 311-1 to L. 311-8);
• reproduction strictly reserved for the private use of the person who produces them and not destined for collective use;
• provided that the source is sufficiently identifiable: analysis and short quotes justified by the critical, polemic, educational, scientific or informative character of the work in which they are incorporated, press reviews, the dissemination of speeches for the public in political, administrative, judiciary or academic assemblies, as well as in public meetings of a political nature and official ceremonies;
• parody, pastiche and caricature observing the rules of the genre.
All of these exceptions are identical to copyright exceptions, cf. sheet n° 5 for closer scrutiny.
Neighbouring rights cannot be used to undermine measures necessary to carry out parliamentary control, judicial or administrative procedures prescribed by law or undertaken for public safety purposes (CPI, art. L. 331- 4).
Performers may not, in addition, forbid the reproduction and public communication of their performance if it is incidental to an event comprising the main subject in a sequence of a work or audiovisual document (CPI, art. L. 212-10).
When the phonogram has been published for commercial means, the phonogram producer and performer may not object to the direct communication of the phonogram in a public place since it is not used in a show (for example, broadcasts in discos, cafés or any other public place), its radio broadcast and simultaneous and integral cable distribution of this radio broadcast (for example, radio or television broadcast).