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SAYCO, Colombian Performance Rights Organization, Reels After Concert Scandal

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-A2yUV6L5xaE/TsvCPwfrgxI/AAAAAAAAELM/cZS8umfq4tI/s1600/sayco+good+morning+colombia+nwews.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="98" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-A2yUV6L5xaE/TsvCPwfrgxI/AAAAAAAAELM/cZS8umfq4tI/s200/sayco+good+morning+colombia+nwews.png" width="200" /></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The fate of SAYCO, Colombia's Society of Authors and Composers, is in flux following a series of critical reports that led last week to the resignation of its manager, Jairo Enrique Ruge.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Likewise, the Ministry of the Interior also announced it would create a special team of legal, administrative and accounting investigators to launch an audit of the Society's affairs. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">"In a few weeks we will turn over to public opinion a complete report not only of the accusations but of Society's administration, using the our inspection and oversight purview," said Colombia's Minister of the Interior, Germán Vargas Lleras, in a statement. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Although SAYCO is a private entity, it is overseen by Colombia's Direction of Authors' Rights, which in turn reports to the Ministry of the Interior. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">The Head of the Direction of Authors' Rights, Juan Carlos Monroy, also resigned.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">The uproar over SAYCO and its collection practices began earlier this month after a prominent concert promoter, Ricardo Leyva, complained publicly about the amount of money the society was collecting from him for a Nov. 3 concert by Aerosmith. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">In a series of public statements, including a lengthy interview that aired on influential radio station La W (which belongs to Spain's Grupo Prisa and is also heard in Spain and the U.S., among other countries), Leyva said SAYCO had demanded he pay $400 million pesos (approximately $200,000) in author's performance rights prior to the Aerosmith show in Bogotá or the Society wouldn't allow the concert to take place. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Leyva, who's worked with SAYCO for over 30 years, said he couldn't come up with the money because ticket sales were slow, but the Society refused to make any concessions. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">The concert finally took place with special government approval, said Leyva in the interview.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">But days after the concert, an indignant Leyva paid for a full page ad in Colombian daily El Tiempo with the headline "No More SAYCO!" and then took to the air on La W, which is known as a medium that wields wide political influence. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">During that same interview, Juan Carlos García, assistant director at SAYCO, stated the Society has collected approximately $15 million between January and October of 2.011. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">That led La W's director, Julio Sánchez Cristo, to repeatedly call for the Ministry of the Interior to investigate the organization.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">In turn, SAYCO, on its website, published an official release stating it welcomed an investigation into those who did not recognize author's rights.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">SAYCO also stated it will continue to continue to work for author's rights in Colombia as it has done for the past 60 years.  </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">According to the organization, in 2.010 it collected $37,000 million pesos (approximately $20 million) of which $6 million were distributed to local composers, $4.5 million to local publishers and some $6 million to foreign rights societies.  </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">During 2.011, SAYCO says it has invested $3 million in programs for its writers, including social security, health and retirement.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Like another embattled author's society-Spain's SGAE -Sayco has also came under attack for its aggressive collection practices. While critics of SGAE decried how the society would, for example, crash private weddings to collect performance fees.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">SAYCO has been criticized for its high fees, which it applies even to free concerts, classical music concerts and charity benefits.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">But lost in the maelstrom has been SAYCO's work as Colombia's only author's society, and the fact that its collections have increased and improved through the years. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">More importantly, the scandal has opened a door to those who don't want to pay fees to SAYCO, and already, there's a proposal before Congress to exempt small business owners from paying SAYCO fees.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">"How wonderful it would be if it didn't hurt businessmen to recognize that songwriting is a job like any other and that us composers have families who we need to maintain," said Colombian composer Wilfran Castillo in a missive published on his website. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">"I'm not willing to allow media to continue talking about the author's society as if it were another carousel of corruption while I personally lead a dignified life thanks to the fees collected by SAYCO."</div>