FRANCE
> CNM unveils phase 2 of its emergency plan
Following the allocation of €50 million by the government, the Centre National de la Musique (National Music Center) has started to implement the second component of the emergency plan launched on March 18 in response to the Covid-19 health crisis.
CNM board of directors voted on May 15 to expand the scope of the relief provided by the organisation. The plan includes:
1 - Expansion of the scope and actions to support the relief fund for the live music sector, with a new allocation of €11.5m, to help companies navigate the period during which all activities stopped. The aid granted is now based on an overall forecast assessment of the applicants' financial situation from March 1 to August 31, 2020, and no longer solely on their cash level forecasts as of June 30, 2020; the aid's cap, initially set at €8,500, is raised to €35,000 and may be increased to €45,000 "depending on the expenses incurred by the applicant to compensate loss of net remuneration for performers and technicians, whose performances have been postponed and/or canceled." The fund is now available to sole owners. The City of Paris will c0ntribute up to €500,000 to the relief fund.
2 - Creation of a recorded music and musical publishing relief fund, financed by a €1m fund allocation from the Ministry of Culture's Directorate General for Media and Cultural Industries (DGMIC), transferred to the CNM. "The purpose of this fund is to support the activity of record stores, phonographic producers, distributors and music publishers," said the CNM.
Fund allocations will be based on an overall assessment of the applicants' financial situation, up to an amount of €1,500 for record stores, €10,000 for phonographic producers and €35,000 for distributors. For music publishers, the allocation of funds will be handled by the Fund for Music Creation (FCM).
> Spedidam forecasts a 28% drop in collections in 2020
French neighbouring rights society Spedidam, representing musicians, has estimated that its collections from 2020 are likely to be down 28% to €40.55 million, against €56.38m in 2019.
The Paris-based society forecast that collections from private copying are going to be down 31.44, while equitable remuneration will register a 23.95% drop in income
“The cultural sector is severely affected by the health crisis," said the society. "Shows and festivals are canceled, theaters and concert halls are closed. Following a winter season made difficult by social movements, this situation severely penalises the performers, who were the first affected by the cancellations and will be among the last to be able to resume their activities."
Spedidam has set up a €200,000 emergency fund aimed at "artists in great financial difficulty.” The amount which will be “readjusted according to the number of requests from artists and the possibilities of financing.”
> Six priorities for the visual arts sector from ADAGP
French visual arts society ADAGP has outlined six priorities "for the revival of the visual arts sector." The organisation, which collects royalties for the use of visual arts works and the proceeds from the re-sale right, reacted to what it considered being an imbalance in the breakdown of the support measures announced by the Ministry of Culture, which "in no way reflects this economic reality."
On March 18, the Minister of Culture Franck Riester presented a first aid plan for Culture with a €22 million funding that was split between music (€10m), performing arts (€5m), books (€5million), leaving the visual arts sector "as poor relatives" with €2m. "The weakness of resources dedicated to artist-authors is distressing," wrote ADAGP.
"The health crisis greatly increases the fragility of artist-authors and will have repercussions for many months, even years, to come," said the Paris-based organisation. "The sources of income of artists are today heavily affected."
ADAGP six priority issues include:
1 - Application without exception of copyright law, including the right of exhibition in museums, art centers and Regional funds of contemporary art (FRAC);
2 - Transposition, as soon as possible, of the European Copyright Directive "giving creators and their authors' societies the legal means to negotiate with Internet platforms";
3 - Commitment from all places where art is displayed "to present mainly artists from the French scene, especially those in mid-career";
4 - Extend the production requirements for broadcasters to commission visual arts programmes dedicated to creation in order to increase their visibility among the general public;
5 - Establishment of a capped tax exemption system to encourage purchases by individuals of works by artists living on the French scene;
6 - Creation of a support system for the visual arts, based on the CNC model, which support the film and TV industries. The new system would contribute to the financing of the creation and production of the French artistic scene.
Visual artists, noted ADAGP, "will obviously contribute to the economic recovery to come" but "they urgently need assistance and support measures that only government policy can bring them."
Following the allocation of €50 million by the government, the Centre National de la Musique (National Music Center) has started to implement the second component of the emergency plan launched on March 18 in response to the Covid-19 health crisis.
CNM board of directors voted on May 15 to expand the scope of the relief provided by the organisation. The plan includes:
1 - Expansion of the scope and actions to support the relief fund for the live music sector, with a new allocation of €11.5m, to help companies navigate the period during which all activities stopped. The aid granted is now based on an overall forecast assessment of the applicants' financial situation from March 1 to August 31, 2020, and no longer solely on their cash level forecasts as of June 30, 2020; the aid's cap, initially set at €8,500, is raised to €35,000 and may be increased to €45,000 "depending on the expenses incurred by the applicant to compensate loss of net remuneration for performers and technicians, whose performances have been postponed and/or canceled." The fund is now available to sole owners. The City of Paris will c0ntribute up to €500,000 to the relief fund.
2 - Creation of a recorded music and musical publishing relief fund, financed by a €1m fund allocation from the Ministry of Culture's Directorate General for Media and Cultural Industries (DGMIC), transferred to the CNM. "The purpose of this fund is to support the activity of record stores, phonographic producers, distributors and music publishers," said the CNM.
Fund allocations will be based on an overall assessment of the applicants' financial situation, up to an amount of €1,500 for record stores, €10,000 for phonographic producers and €35,000 for distributors. For music publishers, the allocation of funds will be handled by the Fund for Music Creation (FCM).
> Spedidam forecasts a 28% drop in collections in 2020
French neighbouring rights society Spedidam, representing musicians, has estimated that its collections from 2020 are likely to be down 28% to €40.55 million, against €56.38m in 2019.
The Paris-based society forecast that collections from private copying are going to be down 31.44, while equitable remuneration will register a 23.95% drop in income
“The cultural sector is severely affected by the health crisis," said the society. "Shows and festivals are canceled, theaters and concert halls are closed. Following a winter season made difficult by social movements, this situation severely penalises the performers, who were the first affected by the cancellations and will be among the last to be able to resume their activities."
Spedidam has set up a €200,000 emergency fund aimed at "artists in great financial difficulty.” The amount which will be “readjusted according to the number of requests from artists and the possibilities of financing.”
> Six priorities for the visual arts sector from ADAGP
French visual arts society ADAGP has outlined six priorities "for the revival of the visual arts sector." The organisation, which collects royalties for the use of visual arts works and the proceeds from the re-sale right, reacted to what it considered being an imbalance in the breakdown of the support measures announced by the Ministry of Culture, which "in no way reflects this economic reality."
On March 18, the Minister of Culture Franck Riester presented a first aid plan for Culture with a €22 million funding that was split between music (€10m), performing arts (€5m), books (€5million), leaving the visual arts sector "as poor relatives" with €2m. "The weakness of resources dedicated to artist-authors is distressing," wrote ADAGP.
"The health crisis greatly increases the fragility of artist-authors and will have repercussions for many months, even years, to come," said the Paris-based organisation. "The sources of income of artists are today heavily affected."
ADAGP six priority issues include:
1 - Application without exception of copyright law, including the right of exhibition in museums, art centers and Regional funds of contemporary art (FRAC);
2 - Transposition, as soon as possible, of the European Copyright Directive "giving creators and their authors' societies the legal means to negotiate with Internet platforms";
3 - Commitment from all places where art is displayed "to present mainly artists from the French scene, especially those in mid-career";
4 - Extend the production requirements for broadcasters to commission visual arts programmes dedicated to creation in order to increase their visibility among the general public;
5 - Establishment of a capped tax exemption system to encourage purchases by individuals of works by artists living on the French scene;
6 - Creation of a support system for the visual arts, based on the CNC model, which support the film and TV industries. The new system would contribute to the financing of the creation and production of the French artistic scene.
Visual artists, noted ADAGP, "will obviously contribute to the economic recovery to come" but "they urgently need assistance and support measures that only government policy can bring them."
UNITED KINGDOM
> UK Music delivers submission to the Commons
The Covid-19 pandemic has had a “devastating" impact on the British music sector, according to a submission to the House of Commons Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee by UKMusic, which represents the interests of the commercial music industry.
Looking at the sector in general, UK Music warned of the “high level of self-employment in the sector with an estimated 72% of the music industry being self-employed in 2018 compared to a national average of 14.7%, leaving workers particularly vulnerable to economic shocks.”
UK Music said there was an estimated 52,240 workers in the sector "who are not currently being reached by Government support schemes.” Falling through the cracks of the system are newly self-employed, small business owners who pay themselves in dividends in lieu of salary, those self-employed who earn just above the £50,000 threshold and those who earn less then 50% of their income via self-employment.
The submission claims that the pandemic had a "catastrophic" impact on the live music sector, with the potential of wiping out £900 million from the sector’s expected £1.1 billion contribution to the economy this year.
While welcoming measures put in place by the government, UK Music indicated that "further support is needed to mitigate the long-term impact on the sector. We need to ensure that the foundational infrastructure of the industry such as live music venues and professional recording studios are not lost. The loss of this infrastructure would harm the content and IP creation that is at the core of the music sector."
The submission also highlighted the challenges faced by recording studios, which are not covered by the Government’s Business Rate Relief and Small Business Grants scheme.
In its submission, UK Music urged the Government to amend the relief to help studios and extend rate relief to the entire supply chain of the live sector including service companies, sound, lighting suppliers and others to ensure the sector is able to restart once restrictions lift.
The issue of commercial rent for record shops and grassroots music venues was also tackled in the submission. “Retailers of physical music will require additional support to get through this crisis and a VAT exemption on physical music products for an initial 12 months would go some way to saving this key part of the sector,” read the submission.
Moving forward, UK Music said urgent support was needed to restart the live sector, including the introduction of VAT breaks on ticket sales. “There needs to be a recognition that certain sectors will be closed for longer than others due to the difficulties in arranging organised gatherings. Without long-term support many live music venues and festivals will not survive the winter of 2020/2021," read the submission.
It added: “Some venues have already carried out modelling which demonstrate that if they opened while applying current social distancing rules, they would run a loss. With bars unable to open, they will also lose important ancillary spend from food, drinks and merchandise.”
It concluded: "As with most sectors, the live music industry will not emerge from this current crisis in the same shape it entered it, but without immediate and substantial support, it may never fully recover."
The Covid-19 pandemic has had a “devastating" impact on the British music sector, according to a submission to the House of Commons Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee by UKMusic, which represents the interests of the commercial music industry.
Looking at the sector in general, UK Music warned of the “high level of self-employment in the sector with an estimated 72% of the music industry being self-employed in 2018 compared to a national average of 14.7%, leaving workers particularly vulnerable to economic shocks.”
UK Music said there was an estimated 52,240 workers in the sector "who are not currently being reached by Government support schemes.” Falling through the cracks of the system are newly self-employed, small business owners who pay themselves in dividends in lieu of salary, those self-employed who earn just above the £50,000 threshold and those who earn less then 50% of their income via self-employment.
The submission claims that the pandemic had a "catastrophic" impact on the live music sector, with the potential of wiping out £900 million from the sector’s expected £1.1 billion contribution to the economy this year.
While welcoming measures put in place by the government, UK Music indicated that "further support is needed to mitigate the long-term impact on the sector. We need to ensure that the foundational infrastructure of the industry such as live music venues and professional recording studios are not lost. The loss of this infrastructure would harm the content and IP creation that is at the core of the music sector."
The submission also highlighted the challenges faced by recording studios, which are not covered by the Government’s Business Rate Relief and Small Business Grants scheme.
In its submission, UK Music urged the Government to amend the relief to help studios and extend rate relief to the entire supply chain of the live sector including service companies, sound, lighting suppliers and others to ensure the sector is able to restart once restrictions lift.
The issue of commercial rent for record shops and grassroots music venues was also tackled in the submission. “Retailers of physical music will require additional support to get through this crisis and a VAT exemption on physical music products for an initial 12 months would go some way to saving this key part of the sector,” read the submission.
Moving forward, UK Music said urgent support was needed to restart the live sector, including the introduction of VAT breaks on ticket sales. “There needs to be a recognition that certain sectors will be closed for longer than others due to the difficulties in arranging organised gatherings. Without long-term support many live music venues and festivals will not survive the winter of 2020/2021," read the submission.
It added: “Some venues have already carried out modelling which demonstrate that if they opened while applying current social distancing rules, they would run a loss. With bars unable to open, they will also lose important ancillary spend from food, drinks and merchandise.”
It concluded: "As with most sectors, the live music industry will not emerge from this current crisis in the same shape it entered it, but without immediate and substantial support, it may never fully recover."