SACEM announces €6m COVID-19 fund

SACEM says the rescue measure will be launched on 2 April and is "intended for people in distress situations who can no longer meet their basic needs." The society has also announced royalty advances.

Members in genuine and pressing need can apply for €1 500, €3 000 or €5 000 depending on their situation. SACEM's existing aid programme for publishers will also get additional funding of €1m, it said.

The fund will be managed jointly by the SACEM members’ Comité du Coeur and by the society's social affairs department. The Paris-based organisation predicts that the total amount paid out to its members could reach €36m if the eligible members take advantage of royalty advances. Exceptional advances may be requested for one year. Their reimbursement will be postponed beyond 2021 and may be spread over a maximum of five years.

"Since its founding, SACEM has supported its members at every stage of their lives, not only by distributing the royalties it collects but also through its cultural action and our solidarity mechanisms," SACEM's board of directors chairperson, Bruno Lion, said."

"In these difficult days, this commitment takes on its full meaning. We can be proud of our collective strength in the service of creation, authors, composers and their publishers."

SACEM CEO Jean-Noël Tronc said: "The April 6 distribution of royalties will happen on schedule. Today we are taking a series of strong emergency measures to support our members as much as possible in a situation unprecedented in its severity.

"We also call on the public authorities to integrate, into the systems they set up, the specific nature of the professions of authors and composers, who are not salaried and must be able to benefit from equivalent systems of self-employment, and music publishers, who are mostly VSEs [very small enterprises] but whose business models do not match the provisions already announced."

Authors, composers and publishers can access the emergency relief fund via the SACEM official website.