Italy's Collection Body Takes Shape

MILAN‹Details of a proposed new independent body to collect and distribute performing right royalties in Italy have been revealed.
The decision to establish a new independent and private company for the collection and distribution of performing right royalties was announced by Italian major labels' association FIMI at its annual general meeting June 30 (BillboardBulletin, July 1). Until now FIMI and the indie labels' association AFI have been responsible for collecting performing right royalties for their respective members. However, collection to date has been inefficient, with most radio and TV stations in Italy refusing to pay the royalties.
FIMI's new secretary general, Enzo Mazza, tells Billboard that a launch date for the as-yet-unnamed body is set for Jan. 1. He adds that its parent body will be a new public company owned directly by the country's participating major and independent labels.
"The new body's shares will be open to any European record company," says Mazza.
Mazza acknowledges that both FIMI and AFI had an inadequate infrastructure for efficient collection of performance royalties and therefore obtained a negligible amount of rights income from Italy's broadcasters.
"Even now, up to 90% of broadcasters in Italy, including several major broadcasters, still refuse to pay performing rights," says Mazza.
The establishment of a new independent body to collect and distribute performance royalties also follows one of the recommendations made by Italy's antitrust authority, L'Autorita' Garante Della Concorrenza E Del Mercato, in its ruling in October when it found the major labels here guilty of operating a price-fixing cartel (Billboard, Nov. 8, 1997).
The record companies are appealing the ruling but have begun implementing several of the antitrust authority's recommendations. The authority recommended that the collection of any information by FIMI relating to the sales and revenue of member companies should be undertaken by a third and neutral party. This led to FIMI members commissioning an outside company for the first time, accountancy firm Price Waterhouse, to undertake the collation and processing of Italy's music market statistics covering the 1997 period.
Disagreement over the collection and division of performing and other neighboring rights revenue was one of several issues leading Italy's major label affiliates to split from AFI to form FIMI six years ago. In July, FIMI, whose membership stands at 70 companies, including the major labels, also announced a more open executive structure to encourage more local labels to become members (Billboard, July 11).
"It is our priority to attract more local independent labels as members of FIMI," says Mazza, adding, "We need a unified lobby for the music industry to push through more stringent anti-piracy and copyright protection measures."