STIM
Encyclopedia
STIM, Svenska Tonsättares Internationella Musikbyrå, is the collecting society for songwriter
s, composer
s and music publishers of Sweden
. Its role is to act as an agent for its members in order to collect license fees whenever their musical works are performed in public, broadcast or transmitted, and to pay out performing royalties.
STIM was founded in 1923, a few years before Sveriges Radio
begun regular broadcasting. Initially an organization for collecting concert fees for composers of classical music, it has since expanded to all genres of music and license fees from broadcasters have become an important source of income. The organization now has some 50,000 members. In the years 2003-2007 the annual turnover was slightly more than 1000 million SEK.
Once an organization is set up, representing a majority of copyright holders within a type of works (as STIM is for composers of recorded music), Swedish copyright law (1960:729, chapter 3a, sections §42a–f) grants users of such works (e.g. broadcasters that use recorded music) the right to use all such works under a single contract with that organization. The collected fees are set by STIM, depending on the size of the audience but independent of the individual work or composer. An individual composer who disagrees, must actively opt out (§42b–e, 2nd paragraph) of this collective arrangement. If the composer wants her share of the fees, she has to join STIM as a member.
Songwriter
A songwriter is an individual who writes both the lyrics and music to a song. Someone who solely writes lyrics may be called a lyricist, and someone who only writes music may be called a composer...
s, composer
Composer
A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...
s and music publishers of Sweden
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
. Its role is to act as an agent for its members in order to collect license fees whenever their musical works are performed in public, broadcast or transmitted, and to pay out performing royalties.
STIM was founded in 1923, a few years before Sveriges Radio
Sveriges Radio
Sveriges Radio AB – Swedish Radio Ltd – is Sweden's national publicly funded radio broadcaster. The Swedish public-broadcasting system is in many respects modelled after the one used in the United Kingdom, and Sveriges Radio - like Sveriges Television - shares many characteristics with...
begun regular broadcasting. Initially an organization for collecting concert fees for composers of classical music, it has since expanded to all genres of music and license fees from broadcasters have become an important source of income. The organization now has some 50,000 members. In the years 2003-2007 the annual turnover was slightly more than 1000 million SEK.
Once an organization is set up, representing a majority of copyright holders within a type of works (as STIM is for composers of recorded music), Swedish copyright law (1960:729, chapter 3a, sections §42a–f) grants users of such works (e.g. broadcasters that use recorded music) the right to use all such works under a single contract with that organization. The collected fees are set by STIM, depending on the size of the audience but independent of the individual work or composer. An individual composer who disagrees, must actively opt out (§42b–e, 2nd paragraph) of this collective arrangement. If the composer wants her share of the fees, she has to join STIM as a member.