Difference between revisions of "SACEM-FAQ"

NOTE: These FAQs have been jointly prepared by SACEM and CC’s affiliate in France solely for the purpose of providing general information about the pilot. These FAQs do not constitute legal advice, and cannot be relied upon as legal advice. These FAQs may not contain all of the information that you need to make a decision and/or use Creative Commons licenses.

I am a member of SACEM, how can I participate in the pilot?

The pilot enables you to make available some of your works under the terms of one of the three Creative Commons licenses that allow non-commercial distribution (see below). Before you can apply a license to your works you need to make sure that you have permission from any other author, composer or publisher for the work in question, bearing in mind that if you want to use a recorded performance of the work, the rights holders of the neighboring rights will also have to agree to licensing the work under the CC license in question.

Once you have made sure that you have permission from all authors, composers and publishers for the work in question, you need to let SACEM know which work you want to CC-license and choose your license. You can do this by logging into your sacem.fr account and by following these 4 simple steps in the “Select your works in CC” application : 1) Select the work for which you want to opt for a Creative Commons Non Commercial license, 2) Select one of the 3 Creative Commons Non Commercial licenses, 3) Accept the pilot’s conditions and 4) Confirm your acceptance of the pilot’s conditions.

After you have chosen your license you will be presented with instructions on how to apply the license to the licensed work. Once you have done this you can distribute the work under the terms of the license, for example by making it available online.

Which Creative Commons licenses can I apply to my work?

You can choose one of the following licenses that allow non-commercial uses of the licensed work:

• Attribution-NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 3.0 (France)) This license lets others remix, tweak, and build upon your work non-commercially, and although creators of new adapted works must also acknowledge you and be licensed for non-commercial use only, they don’t have to license their derivative works on the same terms.
• Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 (France)) This license lets others remix, tweak, and build upon your work non-commercially, as long as they credit you and license their new creations under the identical terms.
• Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0 (France)) This license is the most restrictive of the three licenses, only allowing others to download your works and share them with others as long as they credit you, but they can’t change them in any way or use them commercially.

Why can I only use one of the three Non Commercial (NC) licenses?

The pilot combines SACEM’s strength in collecting royalties from users of musical works with the strengths of Creative Commons in enabling the free distribution of music under open licensing terms. For works that are licensed as part of this pilot SACEM will only collect royalties for commercial uses unless the non-commercial use is part of a “mixed use” as described below. The works can be freely used and distributed for non-commercial purposes (as defined by the pilot terms, explained below) under the terms of one of the three NC licenses. Allowing free non-commercial use of these works creates more flexibility for authors wishing to promote their works or encourage their fans to distribute and/or remix their works.

Given that the primary purpose of SACEM is to collect royalties for uses of the works of its members, it has been decided to focus in this pilot on the use of the Creative Commons licenses that exclude commercial uses of such works.

What uses of the licensed works are considered to be commercial uses?

For works that are licensed by SACEM members as part of this pilot under one of the Creative Commons Non-Commercial Licenses, the following uses are deemed to be commercial (and thus not allowed under the NC licenses and subject to prior license from SACEM and payment of a royalty to SACEM):

• any use of the work by a for-profit entity;
• any use of the work giving rise to any compensation, whether financial or other, whatever the form, the reason and the motive and whoever the beneficiary;
• any use of the work in order to promote or in connection with the promotion of products or services whatsoever and for the benefit of whomever;
• any use of the work by broadcasting entities as well as in workplaces, stores and retail spaces;
• any use of the work in restaurants, bars, cafes, concert venues and other hospitality establishments;
• any use of the work by an entity as part or in connection with revenue generating activities;
• any exchange of the licensed work for other copyrighted works by means of digital file-sharing or otherwise but only when there are advertising or sponsorship receipts, whether direct or indirect, or payment of any kind in connection with the exchange of copyrighted works.

These uses fall outside the scope of the Creative Commons Non-Commercial Licenses for purposes of this pilot, and SACEM will continue to license these uses and collect royalties related to them.

What uses are considered to be non-commercial uses?

The following uses are to be considered as non-commercial subject to their “mixed use” (please see hereinafter) provided no payment is made or revenue of any kind generated, whether to the benefit of the concerned right holder or of a third party:

• Broadcasting on blogs, websites;
• File sharing;
• Streaming or downloadings of a right holder’s works licensed under a Creative Commons Non-Commercial License;
• Promotional recordings of a right holder’s works licensed under a Creative Commons Non-Commercial License ;
• Public broadcasting of such recordings;
• Public performances of a right holder’s works licensed under a Creative Commons Non-Commercial License, provided no expenses are incurred for e.g. artistic fees, lights, sound, venue …, such as :
• concerts whatever the venue (churches, homes, concert halls, public events, informal gatherings, etc….)
• street performances
• seminars and conferences
• schools (except educational purposes)
• background music in common grounds of residential buildings
• civil weddings
• background music in not for profit organizations’ premises.

Please note that the above list of non-commercial uses is given by way of example and is therefore not limitative.

Is the use of a musical work by a website on which there are banner advertisements to be considered as commercial or non commercial?

Such a use is to be considered commercial, whether these banners generate revenues or merely help cover costs.

What happens when my work is used commercially?

The pilot to which SACEM and CC have agreed requires that any commercial use falls out of the scope of the pilot. SACEM will license and collect royalties on behalf of SACEM members for all forms of use that fall outside the scope of the Creative Commons Non-Commercial Licenses pursuant to the terms of the pilot.

What happens when my NC-licensed work is used together with works that are not licensed under an NC license (“mixed use”)?

SACEM will also collect royalties for works licensed by SACEM members under one of the Creative Commons Non-Commercial Licenses whenever such works are used by the same entity in the framework of the same event and/or activity with works under SACEM management that are not so licensed. For example, where an association loi 1901 plays, at an annual meeting, works licensed by a SACEM member under a Creative Commons Non-Commercial License and works of SACEM members that are not licensed under a Creative Commons license then SACEM will be entitled to collect royalties for both categories of works.

Why this pilot?

As an authors’ society, SACEM manages the works of its members, authors, composers and publishers and collects royalties from all kinds of users of musical works in order to distribute them among its members. Creative Commons has developed a number of standard licenses that allow authors to make available their works free of charge as long as some conditions are met. This allows them to take advantage of free online distribution and to allow their fans to build upon these works by remixing them or integrating them into other works. Until now SACEM did not allow its members to use Creative Commons licenses. With this pilot SACEM and Creative Commons want to make it possible for SACEM members to use Creative Commons licenses for non-commercial distribution of their works and at the same time have SACEM continue to license and collect royalties for all other (commercial) uses of these works. The pilot aims to provide more flexibility to authors who are members of SACEM.

How long will the pilot last?

The pilot will run for a period of 18 months starting on the 1st of January 2012 and ending on the 30th of June 2013.

What happens to the CC-licensed works after the end of the pilot?

At the end of the pilot period, SACEM members must cease to opt for Creative Commons Non-Commercial (NC) licenses for additional works, in the absence of an extension of the pilot (which is not guaranteed to occur). However works that have been placed under a Creative Commons license during the pilot can continue to be used in accordance with the terms of the license and of the pilot, after the end of the pilot. We are hoping that the pilot will lead to a more structured solution that allows SACEM members to make use of Creative Commons license after the pilot has ended.

I don’t want my works CC-licensed anymore. What can I do?

It is not possible to revoke a CC-license. CC licenses apply for the duration of the author’s rights.

How can I contribute to making this pilot successful?

As a SACEM member you can contribute to the pilot by making use of the added flexibility that the pilot provides. If you take part in the pilot by applying CC NC licenses to (some of) your works, we are interested in your feedback. You can make comments and report your individual experiences to Creative Commons France or SACEM

I am not a member of SACEM, what does this mean for me?

If you are not a SACEM member, then this pilot does not affect your ability to apply any CC license you wish to your music (as long as you have permission from all other rights-holders that may have contributed). If you wish to reserve commercial rights and thus benefit from SACEM’s strength in collecting royalties for commercial uses along with the strength of Creative Commons in enabling the free distribution of music, then you should consider becoming a member of SACEM and use one of the NC licenses.

You can find more information about the Creative Commons licenses here

NOTE: These FAQs have been jointly prepared by SACEM and CC’s affiliate in France solely for the purpose of providing general information about the pilot. These FAQs do not constitute legal advice, and cannot be relied upon as legal advice. These FAQs may not contain all of the information that you need to make a decision and/or use Creative Commons licenses. If you have questions or are in doubt about the pilot, you should contact SACEM here , and/or consult the terms of the pilot