The promoter Last Tour, organizer of festivals such as Bilbao BBK Live and Kalorama and the Concerts of Taylor Swift in the Santiago Bernabéu, has received a civil demand from the General Society of Authors and Editors (SGAE) for an non -payment of the amounts derived from the author’s rights authorities carried out in 2022, 2023 and 2024.
The Bilbao promoter would not have paid the corresponding amounts, which are estimated at about four million euros. Half of these would belong to the two concerts of Taylor Swift in the Madrid stadium. This default corresponds to the rate that SGAE charges in all concerts, set at 8.5% for a decade. This amount is then distributed to the musical authors and publishers of the songs.
The default is not only in reference to Swift concerts, but also to most collections of the festivals organized by the promoter and other concerts organized by Spain. Leiva, Amaia, Love of Lesbian, Dorian, Rigoberta Bandini and Juan Luis Guerra, among others, would be among the affected artists.
Last Tour, on the other hand, ensure that “it has not been possible to achieve an understanding with the management entity” and consider that the previously mentioned SGAE rate has an “abusive character”, as opposed to the rate applied in the country of swift origin, which is limited to 1.15%. The SGAE notes that the applied rate is in the European average and that Last Tour wanted to take advantage of the British rate, of 4.2%. The PRS (equivalent to the SGAE in the United Kingdom) refused.
In a statement, the Bilbao promoter details that since May 2024 he has used “huge efforts” to find a solution that resolves the conflict, but points out that the SGAE “has rejected each and every one of the proposals.” Of all of them, the SGAE only accepted “the possibility of submitting discrepancy to arbitration before the Intellectual Property Commission (CPI),” but ended up refusing. Finally, Last Tour assures that he will take “the character and abusive practices” of the SGAE. Next, the promoter’s full statement:
«Given the information published today related to the demand filed by SGAE of which we have had knowledge today, Let Tour clarifies the following points:
Last Tour is not against copyright, as well as the payment of fair remuneration corresponding to the rights holders.
Last Tour does not oppose the copyright, or the payment of the equitable remuneration corresponding to the rights holders, but rejects the SGAE rate and the practices of the management entity, whose inadequacy has already been confirmed in the past.
Last Tour considers the SGAE rate abusive
The Last Tour posture is based on the abusive nature of the SGAE rate, which is especially evident in the case of Taylor Swift concerts in Madrid, to which SGAE intends to apply a rate of 8.5%, while the rate applied in the artist’s country of origin is limited to 1.15%.
The SGAE rate is not aligned with that of other surrounding countries. The British rate, for example, is 4.2%, that of Germany between 5.75%and 8.00%, which is in any case lower than the SGAE rate, in Belgium an escalation applies that in cases as in the concert that occupies us it would limit to 3.00%, in Denmark it ranges between 2.42%and 5.25% 6%. The gap is even higher if the United States rate is considered, which is 1.15%.
The questioning of the tariff and practices of SGAE is widespread in the sector, and in this sense, recently, the Association of Musical Promoters (APM) of Spain, of which Last Tour is part, has filed a complaint with the National Commission of Markets and Competition (CNMC) denouncing the abusive nature of the SGAE tariff. The CNMC already spoke in the past on the abusivity of the SGAE rate, which was confirmed by the National Court and the Supreme Court.
The figure that SGAE claims double the real figure
The figure in which SGAE estimates the claim is not correct. Last Tour has provided SGAE for the official certificates issued by the ticketera that was in charge of the sale of tickets of the Taylor Swift concerts and which was designated by the artist herself. SGAE has ignored those figures, which are the real ones, and that have been confirmed by an absolutely independent entity of Last Tour, and has issued invoices for these concerts that practically double the figure that would correspond to. Last Tour has required SGAE to rectify those invoices and the management entity has refused to do so, without a logical, or legal basis, and has announced the presentation of a lawsuit against Last Tour.
It is not true that Last Tour does not facilitate the box office information. Precisely one of the points of the conversations that were being maintained between Last Tour and SGAE revolved around the information to be provided by the promoter, since SGAE seems to consider insufficient certificates issued by independent third parties and specialized in the ticket sales service.
SGAE applies a commission for your intervention for which there is absolute opacity. There is no collection in the statutes, nor in the regulation of SGAE, nor in any other document. The generality of the sector does not know the amount of that commission. In the case of Taylor Swift, in addition, when she is the author of her issues, she is, together with her editorial, the final recipient of the amount of rights, so the work done by SGAE when carrying out the collection is anecdotal.
In Taylor Swift’s concerts there were VIP tickets that included a base price (known in the sector as Face Value) and an increase (called Uplift). The Face Value remunerates the access and enjoyment of the show by the public, while the UPLIFT is linked to an additional consideration series, such as preferred access or location, merchandising of the artist herself and other benefits. The SGAE rate is applied only on the Face Value, the regulation of SGAE already expressly foresees, and the calculation of rights has been carried out in any of the concerts held in this country in which there has been sale of VIP tickets. The official certificates issued by the ticketera that was responsible for the collection of these concerts, and which have been delivered by Last Tour A SGAE, collect 100% of the Face Value, which is the figure on which the amount of the rights is calculated. The Uplift to VIP does not even correspond to Last Tour, so SGAE intends
Last Tour has paid the rights of Lisbon concerts
In this regard, it should be noted that Last Tour was also in charge of the organization of the Taylor Swift concerts in Lisbon, and the rights of these concerts were paid by Last Tour even before the celebration of them, due to the understanding achieved between Last Tour and the Portuguese author rights management entity.
Last Tour if you have made the copyright payment since 2022
It is not true that Last Tour has not paid rights since 2022, even some of the concerts cited by SGAE as unpaid are not, but that the rights have been paid by Last Tour.
SGAE breaks dialogue
Last Tour has tried by all means to avoid the appeal to the courts and in this sense Last Tour raised different ways to resolve the situation with SGAE, such as measurement or arbitration, and before different institutions, although each and every one of them have been rejected by SGAE.
In the case of Taylor Swift concerts, of all the alternatives raised by Last Tour, SGAE only accepted the possibility of submitting the discrepancy to arbitration before the Intellectual Property Commission (ICC), but finally the entity, in an abrupt and unilateral way, broke the conversations, communicated her decision to take off from the approach that she herself had accepted, she rejected all possibility of dialogue and entrusted to a judicial battle.
With all this SGAE is entrusted to a battery of judicial claims against Last Tour that have as the sole objective of suffocating the promoter and imposing the criteria and way of acting of the management entity, closing the door to any possibility of dialogue and negotiation, as well as to the solution of the existing discrepancies, and does so in a context in which the rate and practices that it intends to apply are denounced in the CNMC of the APM.
Last Tour has been looking for a dialogue and understanding with SGAE for years, but it has never been possible, the road is always the same: SGAE tries to impose his abusive rate and if he does not succeed, he raises a really aggressive offensive, being aware that he has huge resources to undertake a judicial battle.
Last Tour opposes the SGAE rate and the practices of the management entity and deeply rejects the action carried out by SGAE.
Last Tour will defend in court the abusive character and practices of SGAE »
