Yesterday, the Portuguese Newspaper DN (Diário de Notícias) published an article covering the landmark reciprocal agreement between Portuguese CMO SPA and Cape Verdean CMO SCM
Available in Portuguese: Read here
English version herein-under:
The copyright of Cape Verdian artists in Portugal will be collected by Sociedade Portuguesa de Autores (SPA) under an agreement with the Cape Verde Music Society (SCM), which will collect those of Portuguese artists in Cape Verde.
“It is our first agreement of reciprocity and it is a historic agreement because Cape Verde achieves, for the first time, the possibility that the rights of Cape Verdean and Portuguese artists can be collected in the regions and markets where the songs are played and there is an economic activity around the songs, “said SCM president Solange Cesarovna.
The SCM official spoke today at a press conference in the city of Praia to announce the agreement with SPA, which in June sponsored the entry of the Cape Verdean society in the International Confederation of Societies of Authors and Composers (CISAC).
From this agreement, Solange Cesarovna explained, “the mapping and identification of all the works of all Cape Verdean authors and composers that are being executed in other territories will be done”.
According to the president of the SCM, with the lack of an organization that could channel to the musicians the rights collected in other territories, “a lot of money has been lost”.
Although not having statistics on the volume of copyrights that were not transferred to Cape Verde, Solange Cesarovna says that “there is an idea that it is a significant volume”, underlining that there is a great consumption of Cape Verdean music in Portugal and in other Portuguese-speaking countries.
“This agreement says that SPA will collect the rights for all the songs of Cape Verdean authors and creators that are being used in the Portuguese market and legitimizes SCM to do it for the repertoire of Portuguese musicians in Cape Verde,” she said.
Solange Cesarovna hopes to establish other agreements with similar organizations of CISAC member countries, adding that there are already contacts with the Spanish Society of Collective Management (SGAE).
The idea, according to the president of SCM, is that Cape Verdean musicians can be protected anywhere in the world where their works are performed.
Solange Cesarovna also said that with the establishment of these agreements, it will be possible to have a global vision of where Cape Verdean music is being played.
The SCM president also said that the Cape Verdean musicians’ adherence to the organization, which has been working full-time only since March, “is proceeding at a good pace”, but noted that the fact that the offices are in the city of Praia has made it difficult to effectively join musicians from other islands.
“At this moment, only the musicians who can move to the venue are able to materialize the contract, but with the agreements we made with the municipal councils we are convinced that we will allow all musicians who are on other islands to register without having to phisically come to the headquarters” she said.
She added that there are already about 300 singers enrolled individually, as well as several representatives of “a range of authors and the estate of their compositions.”
