PRS for Music and MCPS pays tribute to Jean-Loup Tournier
Creative community pays tribute to former CISAC President who passed away
The International Confederation of Societies of Authors and Composers (CISAC), its President Jean Michel Jarre, its Board of Directors and its Director General Gadi Oron, as well as the global community of creators and authors' societies express their great sadness at the news that former CISAC President Jean-Loup Tournier has passed away today.
Jean-Loup Tournier was a towering and influential figure in the world of authors' societies. He played a critical role in the strengthening of CISAC's international presence and in building the global network of authors' societies. During the second half of the 20th century, he advocated tirelessly for legislation at a national and international level that provided strong protection for creators. He was a key player in international law making on authors’ rights and represented creators during discussions on revisions to the Berne Convention.
In 1950, Jean-Loup Tournier joined French authors' society SACEM. He held a number of positions and rapidly became successively Director General, and then President of the Executive Board (1961 to 2001). During his tenure at SACEM, he also joined CISAC’s Board of Directors and has been active within the organisation ever since. He was elected President of CISAC in 2000, for a two-year term, after which he was named Honorary President of CISAC.
An attorney by trade, Jean-Loup was a highly cultured man whose appreciation of what it takes to succeed as a creator was heightened by his own experiences as an amateur flutist.
Jean-Loup was a true friend of creators.
No one has done more than he to enhance the rights of creators in France and around the world. Both at SACEM and at CISAC, he was a relentless advocate for our rights. I am deeply saddened to hear that he is no longer with us. On behalf of the global community of creators, I want to express here my deepest condolences and sympathies to his family.
Jean-Loup Tournier was a visionary and, though this is a sad day for all of us the legacy of his long career and his many achievements will live on. Throughout his time at SACEM and CISAC he was driven by a deep understanding of rights and a tenacious commitment to the primacy of the writer. Our thoughts go out to his family; it is not just France that has lost a friend and leader, but the entire creative community.
Few personalities have played such a critical role for so long in the field of authors' rights. Over more than 40 years, the influence of Jean-Loup Tournier was felt all around the world, where he was known and respected as a determined defender of creators' rights and as a passionate champion of cultural diversity. He had many friends at CISAC, an organisation for which he served as Honorary President since 2002, and to which he had allocated so much time and passion throughout his extraordinary career.
Jean-Loup Tournier made invaluable contributions to CISAC, both as President and later as Honorary President.
Under his aegis, CISAC became a truly global organisation. He sincerely believed that there was no better system than the collective management of rights to ensure that creators' rights were protected. On behalf of CISAC, its staff and all our member societies around the world, I offer his family our sincere condolences.
About CISAC
CISAC – the International Confederation of Societies of Authors and Composers – is the world’s leading network of authors’ societies (also referred to as Collective Management Organisations, or CMOs). With 230 member societies in 120 countries, CISAC represent more than 3 million creators from all geographic areas and all artistic repertoires; music, audiovisual, drama, literature and visual arts. CISAC is presided over by electronic music pioneer Jean Michel Jarre and our four vice-presidents are: Beninese creator and singer Angélique Kidjo, Senegalese sculptor Ousmane Sow, Indian poet, scriptwriter and lyricist Javed Akhtar and Argentinean film director Marcelo Piñeyro. CISAC works to protect the rights and promote the interests of creators worldwide. We enable collective management organisations to seamlessly represent creators across the globe and ensure that royalties flow to authors for the use of their works anywhere in the world. To this end, CISAC provides the highest business, legal, and IT standards to protect creators’ rights and to support the development of the international network of collective management societies. Founded in 1926, CISAC is a non-governmental, not-for-profit organisation with headquarters in France and regional offices in Africa (Burkina Faso), South America (Chile), Asia-Pacific (China) and Europe (Hungary).
About PRS for Music
PRS for Music is a world-leading music collective management organisation representing the rights of more than 165,000 talented songwriters, composers and music publishers around the globe. Headquartered in the UK, it works diligently on behalf of its members to grow and protect the value of their rights. With a focus on innovation and integrity, PRS for Music is redefining the global standard for music royalties to ensure creators are paid whenever their musical compositions and songs are streamed, downloaded, broadcast, performed and played in public. In 2022, PRS for Music collected £964m and paid out £836.2m in royalties. prsformusic.com
