Meta is erasing the sound of (italian) music

A few days ago a post by SIAE (the Italian society of authors and publishers) announced the non-renewal of licenses for the META group (mainly Instagram and Facebook). After months of negotiations, the two companies had not reached an economic agreement that was satisfactory for both parties and as an immediate consequence Meta canceled all the songs of the artists represented by Siae from its catalog. A further consequence, impractical especially for the creators active on the platforms, was also the retroactive removal of non-original musical content (therefore taken from Meta and not directly created on their own) that was part of the catalog that was no longer licensed. Soon the creators had to find an alternative solution, such as replacing music that was no longer available with songs that were still active.

For the moment Meta seems not to want to release further statements apart from having reiterated that it has found a good agreement with companies similar to Siae in the world, i.e. those associations and companies that currently deal with managing the rights and fees of the authors who see their songs from third parties for content creation in which they do not actively participate financially.

Why does an artist get paid every time one of his songs is sung? The author of the song remains the owner but signs an agreement with a company that takes care of controlling the use made of its contents for him. This company, on its delegation and authorization, therefore asks a price to those who use the song and recognizes a part from the artist, keeping one for itself for the management of the service.

Italian singers are almost all represented by Siae even if there are other companies in the sector to which others have converged. The proposed tariffs and also the control system towards whoever uses their contents can compete with each other. SIAE is very widespread in Italy so it is easier to identify who uses the contents and make them pay the amount due (parties, events, television). However, especially online, Siae cannot directly ask the user to pay every time he uses a song by an artist (a system that is really difficult to control) and therefore signs a license agreement with META (but also with TIKTOK for example and other digital partners and platforms) so that it is the company that manages the contents to recognize, on the basis of tables and quotas, a part of the remuneration to Siae and authors (and their record company), withholding the rest. Meta probably decided to propose a low fee for the authors and a very high one for itself and this blew up the agreement.

Unity is strength and for this reason individual authors have no interest (and not many alternatives) in escaping SIAE (or other companies like Soundreef, considered a valid competitor in the same venue, including also italian artists) and setting up on their own to sign agreements for the sale of their songs; if SIAE is already considered a small fish for Meta, you can imagine what would happen to a single author.

We are so used to consider free for usage any content we found online that sometimes we miss to recognize that we are using a protected element for our own contents. If we want to make a comparison, think about how the photos of online artists are used on the platform and what would happen if they were represented by someone who has capillary control over everyone who uses such content privately or professionally. Currently anyone who wants to assert an intellectual property right on an image against IG must open a personal report, provide proof of the originality of the photo, ask for its removal and this does not always happen, since IG considers it absolutely regular that a third party, for reasons right of criticism, you use both video and photos quite freely. In short, there is no system that automatically recognizes the ownership and copyright license (and remuneration)  of the photo through an AI system and throws it off the system, but  this happens automatically for songs.

Yet it is still a matter of exploitation and intellectual property rights, but that of musical and literary authors is a much more structured world that acts collectively.

In the world there are about 170 associations that deal with protecting artists, musicians and authors of songs and lyrics. 

SUISA (in Switzerland of course) , for example, deals only with music while the authors of literary works must apply to another institution (the Pro Litteris) as well as those of the performing arts.

To get an idea of ​​the existing authors' associations around the world we can refer to a list available on the website of one of them based in the UK, PRS for music, which lists the companies around the world with which it has entered into agreements for the protection of artists' venues. “Mutual aid” agreements which take effect every time an author sees the reproduction of his own pieces in the territory of competence of another association.

https://www.prsformusic.com/our-global-network/partners

The list contained on the SIAE site is broader because it is one of the few companies in the world, for more than 130 years old, entitled to protect a broad spectrum of intellectual property, from sculpture to theatrical works to music and literature.

However, the list of partners can be found here: https://www.siae.it/it/chi-siamo/siae-nel-mondo/

What will happen? We don't know exactly what convinced Meta not to close a deal with Siae when instead the others didn't encounter any problems. It must also be said that Italian songs have a potentially gigantic circulation and the revenues are probably more significant than those, for example, of the company that manages the rights of the songs used in Mauritius (yes, they have a rights management company there too ').

Certainly the capillary diffusion of audiovisual content through social media had faded for too long in users' sense of awareness towards the real owners , the authors, who see their songs associated with videos of all kinds, in exchange for the right recognition and price. The situation will probably return with a further negotiation that restores the usability of the contents for everyone. Until then, even the musicians directly present with their personal accounts on the platform will have to refer only to direct and original audio or to recordings of clips from their concerts without entering the catalog (and without being paid),  and exchange their right to be compensated  for a piece of social showcase.