Line production of CD

The compact disk, generally called CD, is a cultural product related to an industry of contents implementing a chain of value. It would be righter of speaking about sound record, which represents the fixing of a work by a recording and which juridically gives place to having right (right of the intellectual property).

summary Diagram

The author and the type-setter

In music, the author is that which writes the words of a song, not to confuse with the Compositeur which writes the music to him.

the author can be only one natural person. When it yields its rights of exploitation of a work, it can never lose its quality of author. But it can however publish an anonymous work of manner, or under a Pseudonyme.

to be able to profit from the quality of author, it is necessary to intervene in the form. The simple fact of providing an idea cannot be enough to assert royalties.

In the same way the quality of author requires a certain freedom during creation. Thus the interprets can assert Royalty only if there is a true personal capital contribution in the creative process.

The interpreter

Individuel or collective (a group, an orchestra, etc), he is the artist who carries out a work of interpretation of a music or of a song
He is related to the producer by a work contract and if it is envisaged to pour to him royalties (% of the sales) by an exclusive contract
It is also one having right in the chain of the disc (since the law of 1984)

The phonographic producer

the producer is that which finances the recording of a title, it is the owner.
In the contract between the producer and artist-interprets it, this last yields to the producer the whole property of the recording. In against part, the artist partially perceives a remuneration in the form of wages (French specificity) and of the Royalties, i.e. a percentage of the sales which can vary from 4 to 22% (according to the notoriety of the interpreter).

The phonographic editor

the phonographic editor is that which takes the recording (the master), makes of it a disc and markets it (pressing, promotion…).
the contract between the phonographic editor and the producer names " contract of license".
As it materially manufactures the disc, the phonographic editor pays rights to the SDRM. The producer remaining the owner of the recording, the phonographic editor does not have any right on CD which it pressed. However, the producer can yield the exploitation for a duration to him and a territory given.
It makes the sale and gives a percentage to the producer
It receives from 16 to 18% of the sale of the sound record.
the phonographic editors have two trade unions: SNEP and UPFI.

The distributer

the distributer is that which puts the disc in the vats.
It has a commercial role with respect to the stores or sales outlets (limits of listening, head of gondole…).
the distributer takes a product fixes and is committed putting it in the vats according to the contract of distribution which it signed.
It takes a margin from approximately 30% on the sales of the product.

The retailer

There exist three great types of retailers:

the general practitioners, like the hypermarkets, account for 50% of the sales of disc. They sell mainly the discs at strong potential of sale, and are not interested thus or little in CD of the independent labels.

the specialists, is:

the large surfaces specialized such as FNAC, Virgin…

100.000 references for largest
35% of the sales in France (20% for the FNAC)
80% of the sales of the independent labels

the independent record dealers remain important for the independent labels. They can be gathered under frankness (choke…).

mail-order sellings and by Internet (Fnac.com, Amazon,…)

salesmen by E-trade

The graphic editor (or publisher )

the graphic editor is there to generate the most possible income starting from a work.
It is the single commercial structure which can touch royalties.
the graphic editor has two sources of revenue: royalties and rights of synchronization (possibility of putting work on a audio-visual support).

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