SABAM

SABAM ?

SABAM is the Société Belge des Auteurs, Compositeurs et Editeurs (Belgian Society of Authors, Composers and Publishers).

Its object is the receipt, the redistribution, the administration and the management (in the widest sense of the word) of all copyrights in Belgium and in other countries where reciprocity agreements are entered into (with our sister societies, that is to say, with the collective management societies throughout the world).

SABAM is a private collective management society whose legal form is an SCRL. In no event it is a ministry or para-governmental undertaking.

Founded in 1922 upon the initiative of authors. SABAM currently has thousands of authors in all disciplines. Too often exclusively associated with music, SABAM is proud of its multidisciplinary nature and jointly represents composers, lyricists, publishers, dramatic authors, choreographers, directors, screenwriters, dialogue writers, radiophonic creators, sub-title authors, translators, novelists, poets, comic strip authors, illustrators, journalists, sculptors, painters, videographers, artists, photographers, graphic designers, etc. This singularity makes our Society an almost unique case in the world. 

What is the role of SABAM?

SABAM documents the works of its authors to be able to receive royalties each time a work from its repertory is used or broadcast publicly, and to redistribute these royalties to the author. To declare a work, you have to become a member :

1. Membership
The creator does not have to become a member of SABAM to protect its works as the law automatically protects it (Law on Intellectual Property). The creator becomes a member of SABAM to entrust to it the management of its royalties, i.e. the possibility of being paid on its behalf for the public use of its works. This is what in legal terms is called fiduciary assignment.

2. Declaration / documentation
The works of members are documented in our database and constitute the SABAM repertory. This is also comprised of works declared to foreign societies. The quality of this documentation is crucial for the correct operating of SABAM; this enables the royalties to be received rightly for any public use of a documented work and, hence, enables the royalties to be redistributed correctly.

3. Payment of copyrights
There are two ways of paying the copyright (which is not a tax but a differed salary): individual payments and collective payments.

We talk about individual payments when we know in advance the works played and their rights holders (i.e. the authors, publishers, heirs). The amount paid is known in advance and, hence, also the amount to be redistributed.

We talk about collective payments when we do not know in advance the works played and the persons for whom we are going to redistribute royalties. These payments are made by the media, restaurants, shops, cafés, etc.

4. Redistribution of copyrights
The redistributions arise from the payments. There are also two types of redistributions: individual redistributions and collective redistributions.

The copyrights that are the subject of a payment (individual or collective) are redistributed:

• according to the redistribution formulae pre-fixed by the rights holders (when their works are declared);


• according to criteria fixed by the SABAM General Regulations and approved by the General Meeting of its members;


• in periods of time which vary depending on the type of royalty to be redistributed.