Response to articles in the Australian from CAL's CEO

CAL's CEO Jim Alexander has expressed his concern over an article published in The Australian on Thursday 18 February 2010 (Copyright staff get more than they give to authors and artists, Luke Slattery). In particular, the statement that Australian authors were only paid $9.1 million by CAL last year. This figure only represents direct payments to authors, and ignores the fact that many publishers receive CAL payments which are then shared with authors in accordance with any contractual agreements.
 
“While it is true that only $9.1 million was paid directly to authors and artists last year, a further $75.9 million was paid to Australian publishers a share of which was then redistributed by those publishers to authors and artists under their private contractual arrangements. Indeed of the $114 million collected in 2008-9, 86% was available to rightsholders,” says Mr Alexander.
 
“This system of direct and indirect payment has the potential to lead to disputes between authors and publishers, which is why CAL is in the process of implementing a new distribution system, CALdirect, under which authors and publishers will be paid directly on the terms agreed privately between them. This system, which is specifically designed to allow authors and publishers the flexibility to implement individual agreements on a title-by-title basis, is a world first and places CAL at forefront of collecting agencies worldwide.
 
Jim Alexander also said today that CAL's salaries were only 8.3% of total revenue collected last year, and CAL’s total operations budget decreased to 13.7% of total revenue.
 
“In addition to the amounts distributed to authors and publishers, CAL also invests more than $1 million annually in the broader cultural community through its Cultural Fund. The vast bulk of this money flows to projects specifically designed promote the recognition and dissemination of Australian writing and to develop new markets in Australia and overseas.”

To read a statement from CAL Board Directors James Bradley, Libby Gleeson AM and Malcolm Knox, click here.