Cannes Accord Is Signed

LONDON--The Cannes Accord, the most significant document in a decade for Europe's authors' bodies, was finally signed Nov. 13--nearly nine months after first being agreed upon.
The document, which was hammered out at a meeting held in conjunction with this year's MIDEM, lays down a strict timetable for collection societies to reduce administration rates (Billboard, Feb. 1, Feb. 8). Though the document has only just been signed, its first phase came into effect in July, as agreed in Cannes.
The accord was adopted by representatives of all European Union authors' bodies and the head of the major music publishers operating here. It says that, in return for the U.K.'s Mechanical Copyright Protection Society (MCPS) dropping the controversial system of direct distribution, all EU societies should have reduced average administration rates from 8.34% of mechanical revenue at the beginning of the year to 6.9% by July. Further, the document says, average rates will fall to 6.2% by the end of next year and 6% by July 2000.
The signatures to the accord, which include all the significant publishers as well as the heads of the authors' bodies, have been collated by MCPS from its London offices. The names have been collected one by one over time, and, though they have been in place for some weeks, Nov. 13 was agreed as the date when the document will have been deemed to have been signed.
Though MCPS' administration rate has historically been among the lowest in Europe, chief executive John Hutchinson says even his organization is finding it difficult to meet the accord's exacting standards.
'Like all other societies, we are aware that the Cannes Accord is a tough one,' Hutchinson says. 'Also in common with our fellow societies, we are not going to find it easy to implement.'
No comment was forthcoming from the continental European societies contacted by Billboard. However, several have already publicly acknowledged that meeting the accord's conditions will result in posts being cut.
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