It was April 2016 when the
Italian rapper Fedez announced that he would be switching from
SIAE, the Italian royalties clearinghouse for copyrighted
material, to Soundreef, a start-up company founded by Davide
D'Atri and Francesco Danieli in London in 2011 to break SIAE's
monopoly.
Few at that time knew anything about the company. Gigi
D'Alessio, who left immediately after Fedez, proclaimed at that
time that "many will follow me".
He has been proven right: over 11,000 have since followed in his
footsteps, including such well-known figures as Fabio Rovazzi,
Nesli and Noyz Narcos.
Now, two-time Sanremo winner Enrico Ruggeri and the rapper
J-Ax have also left SIAE for Soundreef.
While J-Ax's decision was to be expected due to his close
friendship with Fedez, Ruggeri's strongly surprised SIAE.
The singer thanked the company for the many years together.
"We are the ones who should thank 'Maestro Ruggeri' for the
very many years in which he was are associate and who in 2016,"
SIAE director general Gaetano Blandini said, "was among the
first thousand signatories of the SIAE letter to defend
copyright law. Precisely because we have had the chance to get
to know the sensitivity of Enrico Ruggeri in the battles to
protect copyright, his choice seems incomprehensible to us."
Soundreef, Blandini said "according to the regulations in
force, is operating illegitimately in our country, in which
intermediation activities concerning copyright law are
restricted to organizations like SIAE that are non-profit and
managed by their associates."
Chairman Filippo Sugar said that SIAE "is and will continue
to be a non profit company governed by its own associates, and
which cannot - and above all does not want to - get involved in
purchasing campaigns. SIAE is in line with the regulations in
force, in line with the Barnier directive and thus does not
discriminate between its associates, treating them all the
same."
Soundreef - which now boasts over 11,000 Italian authors and
publishers signed up to it, with a 25% growth over the past 12
months - is meanwhile celebrating Ruggeri's choice.
"Enrico Ruggeri's arrival," D'Atri said, "is a great honor
for us. Working with his repertoire renders us happy and proud
of the direction we have taken and is proof of our company's
progress."
As often happens, "everything began from a meeting between
Soundreef's 'youth'," Ruggeri said. "I found enthusiasm, a
combative attitude towards challenges and the desire to
communicate plans, qualities that I have always sought out in
the people with whom I work. It is not an 'agency'; it is a
group of people with a face and a voice. This is why I decided"
to work with them.
Some, on the other hand, have decided to shift from Soundreef
to SIAE, such as the pianist Andrea Tonoli.
Tonoli has composed soundtracks for films, documentaries and
television commercials, as well as having worked for National
Geographic.
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