SACEM CEO Cécile Rap-Veber, whose term has been extended after the society achieved record collections for 2023. Photo Credit: SACEM
Thanks in part to a double-digit royalties boost from online sources including streaming, France’s SACEM has reported record collections of nearly €1.5 billion for 2023.
According to its just-released 2023 financials, the French rights society specifically collected $1.62 billion (€1.487 billion) last year, marking a roughly five percent hike from 2022.
Behind that sum, the AI Act advocate attributed $605.35 million (€557 million) to online sources such as streaming (up 13 percent year over year). Meanwhile, an 18.5 percent YoY spike in “general royalties” (including from usages in public establishments and during live performances), to $421.76 million (€388 million), helped offset a four percent YoY slip in TV and radio collections ($345.60 million/€318 million), per the report.
Furthermore, SACEM made a point of emphasizing ongoing efforts to control spending, with the ratio for net operating costs (expenses less non-royalties revenue, that is) to collections having fallen to a record low of 10.76 percent, according to the breakdown.
Related initiatives include the deployment of “numerous IT tools” designed to enhance efficiency, besides “actively” utilizing artificial intelligence internally.
Running with this focus on reduced spending and bolstered efficiency, SACEM says it now distributes royalties from public usages as well as streams on Apple Music and Spotify “three months after the quarter of exploitation.” And beginning in July, the same will be true for YouTube royalties, the society indicated.
Turning to the membership side, the net addition of 13,870 members (about 3,000 of whom are based outside France) elevated SACEM’s year-end ranks to north of 224,470, the organization communicated. During 2023, in excess of 50,000 members received royalty distributions from abroad, a YoY increase of approximately 3,000.
“2023 was a year of confirmation in the implementation of our major strategic priorities,” SACEM CEO Cécile Rap-Veber said in part. “We continued our transformation into Sacem 3.0 and worked to improve efficiency, ensuring the sustainability of our management account and optimising both our collections and the amount distributed to our members.
“Looking beyond the figures, we have worked to provide social and professional support for our members and have continued to defend our collective management model in the face of competition and technological upheaval,” proceeded the former Universal Music exec, whose term as SACEM head has been unanimously extended by the board.
Late last month, PRS for Music (which is also striving to improve efficiency) shed light on its own 2023 collections, as did Sweden’s STIM, with each sum representing a record.
