Until now, any issue related to public exploitation of national or international artistic works had to be managed by mean of monopolistic Collective Management Societies, such as SADAIC (music), Argentores (theater and cinema authors), AADI (performers), CAPIF (phonographic producers), who were in charge of collecting from the collective exploitation of an enormous amount of works, and distributing the payments to the artists, after being discounted the fees and administrative expenses for the provided service.

From now on, artists are allowed to manage their rights individually or choose among different entities competing with each other, which in turn must comply with the new rules.

This represents a transcendental change in the copyright legal framework in Argentina, seeking to provide the creators with more autonomy, promote the competition between managing entities, give transparency to the distribution of collected revenue, and limit administrative expenses.

The more relevant aspects of this new regulation are detailed as follows:

1.  Individual rights management: Owners of copyrights and related rights are now able to manage their rights individually, without obligatory intermediation of Collective Management Societies (SGC). This allows creators to negotiate directly with the users of the exploitation of their works.

2.  Competition between Management Societies: The existent monopoly of SGC is eliminated, allowing coexistence of multiple societies which may simultaneously represent the same rights. This promotes competition and offers authors the possibility to choose the entity which better adapts to their needs.

3.  Transparency and Administrative limits: SGCs shall adjust their bylaws to include clear rules about the distribution of collected revenue, ensuring administrative expenses do not exceed 30% of the collections. In addition, any distinction or privilege is forbidden among different types of associates regarding payment, administration and voting rights.

4.  Role of the Ministry of Justice: The Ministry of Justice shall be in charge of setting the maximum fees SGCs may charge their users, according to the kind of work and its use. Likewise, SGCs shall be subject to auditing and supervision of the National Copyright Authority, dependent on said ministry.

5.  Adequation of existent societies: Entities such as AADI-CAPIF and SAGAI shall adequate their bylaws and operations to the new regulations established in the decree, allowing competition and execution of bilateral agreements. In the case of “Argentores”, even though its monopoly is maintained due to legal provisions, it allows the possibility of direct agreements between authors and users.