[1] Collective management organisations (CMOs), sometimes also referred to as collecting societies, typically represent groups of copyright and related rights owners, i.e.; authors (such as writers, composers, painters and photographers), performers (such as musicians, actors and dancers), publishers, phonogram producers, film producers and other rights holders.
Collective rights management through a CMO first occurred in France in 1777 for the use of dramatic and literary works in theatre, attributed to the efforts of Pierre Beaumarchais.
CMOs also negotiate the royalty rates and other licence terms on behalf of their members and members of foreign CMOs which whom they have agreements, collect royalty payment on behalf of rights holders and document right management data and information.
The CMO's authority is typically conveyed by its statute (if membership-based), by voluntary mandates, by representation agreements with other CMOs and/or by national law.
A key concern for CMOs is the correct management of the vast amounts of data and information that they collect about their members, their works, other creative contributions and their usages.
Three typical collective management schemes are outlined below, but there are also other models, and in some cases these co-exist, depending on the national legal and licensing framework at hand.
[8] Under the mandatory collective licensing model, rights holders do not have the choice of granting permissions on an individual basis.