October 13, 2009

By By Mark Worden, Milan

Italian collecting society SIAE's director-general, Domenico Caridi, whose two-year mandate ended on Oct. 8, has left the organization. His role is temporarily being filled by assistant director-general, Manlio Mallia.

Caridi was previously assistant director-general to Angelo Della Valle, whom he succeeded in October 2007. Caridi's mandate was in fact for two years, but this was not renewed following a recent meeting of the governing body in Rome.

Indeed there has been considerable turmoil within SIAE in recent months. At the last general assembly, which was held on June 23, a large number of members, representing both indie and major publishing concerns, staged a walk-out. This was in order to express their dissatisfaction with the current SIAE management which, they claim, has failed to distribute revenue sufficiently quickly and to gather digital revenue efficiently.

The mandate of current SIAE president Giorgio Assumma is due to run out in November and his future should be decided at a general assembly, which has been fixed for Oct. 27. It is not yet known if and when a new director-general will be appointed, or whether the interim director-general will be confirmed.

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