Buma-Stemra's annual report shows transformation of entertainment business

Buma-Stemra, the organization that collects copyright fees for the creative sector in The Netherlands has generated a turnover € 176 million euros in 2010. This is slightly less than the results of 2009, when € 177 million was collected.

These figures appear from the annual report of Buma-Stemra. The decline was entirely due to the turnover of the Stemra division. Stemra is the Foundation for the exploitation of mechanical reproduction rights for authors and manages royalties from the sale of physical copies. The foundation’s revenues fell by five million euros to € 35.6 million. This loss is directly related to the drying up of physical music and media sales, such as vinyl records, CDs and DVDs. The actual loss in absolute sales numbers is slightly mitigated by Stemra’s decision to increase the fees. This was necessary to keep the organisation up and running.

Conversely, the turnover of Buma, the Office of music copyright, increased by some four million euro, now totalling € 140.3 million. The revenues from the legal exploitation of music copyrights, other than from the sale of physical copies, rocorded over 2010 are higher than ever. These figures show that the creative sector is gradually going through a transformation. Since the turnover of royalty revenues of Buma-Stemra combined is only slightly lower compared to 2009, it becomes apparent that the main source of income for authors and artists is shifting from music purchases towards other business activities.

At the end of 2010, Buma had 162.2 million euros available for distribution to writers. This is over €5 million more than the amount available for 2009. Stemra was able to return €38.8 million to authors, compared to the €40.9 million that was distributed at the end of 2009. Over 20.000 composers, lyricists and music publishers in The Netherlands are directly affiliated to Buma-Stemra. In addition, Buma-Stemra represents the interests of thousands of international artists through international cooperation. The annual report will be officially presented on May 23.

Bron: Entertainment Business