In the course of the annual General Members Meeting of AKM authors, composers and music publishers the annual result 2017 was presented and a new president was elected.
The Collecting Society AKM looks back on a very successful financial year 2017 with increases in all relevant business areas for its 24,000 members. The highlights of the annual result include:
Total revenues increased to 113m Euro and are 4.9% higher than in the previous year. Domestic license revenues increased 3.8% and amounted to 95.2m Euro, foreign license revenues increased by 13.7% to 13.2m Euro mainly due to a one-time effect of subsequent claims.
At 9.76% AKM managed to keep its admin rate below 10% for the third consecutive year and maintains its best in class position in terms of efficiency.
Great news for beneficiaries: their entitlement amounts to 98.3m Euro in 2017 and is 3.9m Euro (+4.2%) higher than in the previous year.
austro mechana, the subsidiary of AKM, showed a volatile revenue development. The strong decline in license revenues to 24.1m Euro (-28.1%) can be attributed to high payments in 2016 because of the storage media levy. Physical sound carrier sales (CDs, DVDs, etc.) have been declining for years and the trend continues. Despite a heavily growing online market (+18.7%) creators do not get fair payment for their work due to the existing value gap.
General Manager Gernot Graninger expressed satisfaction about the business result, “AKM distributes a record amount of 98.3m Euro to its beneficiaries despite changes in the market and in user behaviour and keeps its admin rate at a record low. We maintain our best in class position in terms of efficiency by international comparison with other musical copyright societies.
The annual report 2017 of AKM is available for download at www.akm.at/en/service/downloads.
Peter Vieweger is the new president of AKM
The long-term president of AKM, Robert Opratko, had to resign due to health reasons, which led to the election of a new president for the next two years in the course of the General Members Meeting. Peter Vieweger, member of the board since 2004 and vice president since 2013, was elected president by the General members Meeting and will hold this position at least until 2020 when regular elections take place. “AKM and the general idea of Collective Management Organisations is dear to my heart. In my role as president I will provide new impetus together with my colleagues from the board and the management to ensure that AKM continues its successful path with a successful repertoire” says Vieweger about his plans as president of AKM.
Peter Vieweger was born in Vienna in 1954 and is an active musician, composer and producer. In the course of his career he was guitar player in the band Drahdiwaberl, founded the band Spinning Wheel, toured as bandleader with Falco and represented Austria successfully at the Eurovision Song Contest 1983 with the band Westend. He produced more than 400 songs of numerous artists.