SGAE: El monopolio en decadencia

The printed book includes the ebook.

Interview: Ainara LeGardon and David G. Aristegui -Radio Show consonni con Azkuna Zentroa about Intellectual property and artistic practices.

What body can claim to have sheltered opera composers, porn film directors, playwrights, scriptwriters, mime artists and punks under its wing? The Spanish Society of Authors and Publishers(SGAE).

As the outcome of an intense process of research, complemented by the personal experience of authors as members of the SGAE, this essay aims to offer critical reflections and bring into focus existing alternatives to the current rights management model. It shows a historical itinerary, from the origins of authors' societies at the start of the 20^th century and their situation under Francoism, taking in the picture of Teddy Bautista emerging in handcuffs on his way to the courthouse, and then bringing us up to the present time. The narratives, open letters and declarations by SGAE managers, and experiences and approaches adopted by jurists, independent publishers, creators and new organizations that have come onto the scene help us to fit together the pieces of the puzzle. 

This book includes a prologue by the editor and writer Servando Rocha.

Ainara LeGardon (Bilbao, 1976) and David García Aristegui (Madrid, 1974) came to know one another because of their investigations around intellectual property. They are both members of the SGAE, the former as an author and the latter as an inheritor of rights. Strangely enough, they both studied Chemical Sciences, although their life paths took another specific direction, toward specialization in Intellectual Property.

David published the book ¿Por qué Marx no habló de copyright? (Enclave de Libros) in 2014, and since then has recorded his ideas through regular critical articles in various communications media. Among his outstanding texts are the chapter on SGAE in CT o la Cultura de la Transición (DeBolsillo, 2012) or the prologue to Criminales del copyright (Hoja de Lata, 2014). He created one of the few programmes exclusively devoted to intellectual property, Comunes. He is currently collaborating on Barrio Canino, produced via Ágora Sol Radio, and with the collectives Ciencia Para el Pueblo and the Unión de Sindicatos de Músicos, Intérpretes y Compositoras. His latest work was the self-published Sin mono azul. Breve historia del sindicalismo en el trabajo cultural (1899-2015).

Ainara has been an author and artist for over 25 years. In 2014 she published her study “Otro modelo es posible”, where she explored the management of rights in the musical field, assessing the need for and viability of a change of paradigm. In addition to her work as an artist, she carries out wide-ranging teaching work in self-management workshops. One of her recent articles was selected in 2015 by the Jury of the Rodrigo Uría Meruéndano 2^nd Art Law Award. She is involved in permanent collaboration as a consultant to Musikari (Basque Country Musicians’ Association) and coordinates “Copyzer”, a free consultancy service for creative projects in Irun, the town where she presently lives.

They have both pooled their strengths and knowledge to develop this research project, providing a critical analysis of the scaffolding that supports the largest and most powerful statewide management body in this area.