A copyright collecting society is a society, generally non-profit, administered by rights holders (performers, authors, producers), which collectively manages the copyright entrusted by members it represents.
These societies were formed to deal with the impossibility for rights holders, such as performers, to give authorizations for each use of their music. Indeed, given the different uses that can be made of music (radios, streaming, public places, etc.) all over the world, it is often necessary that the authorizations can be obtained from a single entity, namely the collecting society. Thus, collecting societies manage authorizations to use the musical repertoire of their members with music users, and collect and redistribute to them the resulting royalties.
These collecting societies have also been set up to collectively defend and promote the rights of their members. This is one of the missions at the heart of Artisti’s activity: to protect, promote and preserve the rights of performers in Canada.
Note: a collecting society, which manages copyright, is to be distinguished from a union, such as the Union des Artistes, for example, which defends the working conditions of its members.
