Copyright, Agcom: Siae at 99.20%, Lea at 0.80%

A lot of water under the bridge has passed since the days of the Siae monopoly: the copyright market in Italy is liberalised. As a result of the Barnier directive, its transposition by the Decree 35/2017 and, above all, the 21 March 2024 ruling of the EU Court of Justice. But the legal monopoly seems to have been replaced by a natural monopoly: Siae in music holds 99.20 per cent of the sector's business and Lea, the non-profit organisation that until last year operated on behalf of the private collecting company Soundreef, only 0.80 per cent.

This was certified by Agcom in Resolution 142/25, which allocates market shares to all copyright and related rights collecting societies. "Numbers in which we do not recognise ourselves," emphasises Davide D'Atri, founder and ceo of Soundreef, "and about which we are ready to appeal, should a user use them in a distorting way".

According to Agcom's reconstruction, while for the "Authors of musical works" segment, there is a clear predominance of Siae (99.20%) over Lea (0.80%), and for the "Authors of cinematographic and assimilated works" segment, the Società autori ed editori prevails even more clearly (99,99%) over Mrights (0.01%), for phonographic producers' related rights the collecting society of the majors Scf prevails (85.30%), ahead of Afi (5.81%), Itsright (4.67%), Getsound (2.25%), Evolution (1.96%) and Audiocoop (0.01%). For related rights reserved for performing artists, in the music field, Nuovo Imaie (86.44%) is in the lead, ahead of Itsright (13.17%) and Rasi (0.40%), in the film field, in addition to Nuovo Imaie (81.53%) we find Artisti7607 (16.19%) and again Rasi (2.28%).

Soundreef, faced with these numbers, does not stand by it: 'Agcom's work,' says D'Atri, 'is certainly not simple, but some of the criteria they used leave us perplexed. For example, with respect to Lea, they have made a calculation on the takings of the last three years, avoiding the use of recent data, turnover and real use of the reference repertoires: it is clear that, in this way, they are penalising the new players to the advantage of the historically consolidated ones. Not to mention that the scenario referred to in the document only concerns the year 2024 and precedes the ruling of the EU Court of Justice, while from January Soundreef can operate directly in our market".

The private collecting company has other numbers in mind: 'Our weight,' D'Atri continues, 'fluctuates between 3 and 4 per cent of the market, depending on the segment being considered'. But for now Soundreef is not challenging: 'Agcom,' explains the CEO, 'does not set prices, it gives indications to the market, with respect to some of which we agree'.