We reached censorship
We are told that the last AW ArtMag Black Number (Nr. 5/2022) edition will go down in history. Who knows? In the meantime, between general astonishment and outrage, it has been passed from person to person. Can that be? Does Siae no longer intend to recognize the right to information and ask for money for reproductions published with newspaper articles? Even RAI (Italian television) is concerned, with close-ups dedicated to those pages of our magazine where gloomy black boxes, with Siae Artist stamp, appear rather than the usual artworks reproductions. A sequence of obscured pages that say more than many words.
We reached censorship. Indirectly induced, self- inflicted, but still censorship. Sure, because besides the matter of principle - the illegitimate claim that goes against the copyright law and many lawyers are taking care of it - anyway the requests are unsustainable for the publishing companies, in difficulty for the global economic situation, before the monopolistic entity turns up the heat. Logical consequence: Siae artists disappearance from the Italian press. The whole press: newspapers, monthly and weeklies magazines, etc. We know about leading national newspapers that ordered, to the heads of cultural sections, not to publish the protected authors anymore. It is a cynical reasoning and of a disarming simplicity. Suing is useless, it is a waste of time and money, when marginalizing the registered artists is enough. On this path, other newspapers are adapting too. The protected artists are removed, let’s go ahead with the others. At least as long as the artists take their own decisions to revoke the warrant, since they are so damaged and their commissions are not so high. Many of them have expressed rage and the intention of leaving Siae. Desperate times call for desperate measures. After all, there are previous circumstances. The institution has already experienced a mass desertion in the entertainment sector; many important personalities left it: Fedez, Gigi D’Alessio, Enrico Ruggeri, J-Ax sensationally moved to Soundreef. Years of legal battles, official documents, accusations and accusations followed. Until in 2019, the Constitutional Court certified the end of the monopoly with EU law. The dreaded, the former unbeatable Siae, at least in music, has lost. We can still hope.
