SACD, founded as Société des Auteurs et Compositeurs Dramatiques (English: Society of Dramatic Authors and Composers) on 7 March 1829, is a French collecting society, undertaking collective rights management for authors.[1] The Society manages, promotes and protects the performance rights of theatrical, audivisual or photographic works for their creators by collecting royalties and authorising performances.[2]
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It can trace its origins to the French playwright Beaumarchais who brought together a group of writers on 3 July 1777 to form a "Society of Dramatic Authors" (French: société des auteurs dramatiques).
At the time, the all-powerful members of the Comédie Française enjoyed, and abused, a monopolistic situation whereby every author of a play written in verse was obligated to give them first refusal. And, even if accepted, the author received a pittance, in no way reflecting the success of a work such as The Barber of Seville.[1]
On 13 January 1791, the French Assembly officially recognised the concept of author's rights (French: droit d’auteur) in a law later ratified on 19 January 1791 by Louis XVI. To quote the legislation: "the most sacred, the most unassailable and the most personal of possessions is the fruit of a writer’s thought".[1]
Beaumarchais brought together twenty-two authors to form the first "Bureau of Dramatic Law" in 1791. Another bureau was founded in 1798, and the two were brought together on 7 March 1829 to form the Society.
In 2006 the Society represented about 44,000 members in the performing arts and audiovisual sectors.[3] The entire SACD repertoire currently comprises about 500,000 works, from the performing arts and the audiovisual sector.[4]
The SACD lobbies in favor of governmental action meant to discourage unauthorized use of copyrighted works over the Internet (DADVSI, HADOPI) and against proposals to establish a "global license", authorizing French Internet users to copy copyrighted works in exchange for a flat fee on the Internet subscription.
In 2009, the SACD hosted a petition in favor of Roman Polanski, following his arrest.