A scoop for brave ATS Journalists Intellectual copyright corruption, Luxury apartment. SGAE

So I have been very upset with a royalties agency in Spain known as SGAE. They are always at the feet of many scandals and corruption charges.

I am being hit up as a small business owner for a whopping 400 Euros just for playing music in my little cafe.
This is after a months long battle with them in which I refused to pay, shut off my TV which was originally the problem, and yet still they want to charge me.

They have charged everything from a school doing plays from play writes dead for many hundreds of years, to charging fund raisers for children to get treatment for terminal diseases.

They send private detectives to weddings and hit newly wed couples up for a couple grand just for playing music or any nonsense really.

Recently (last year) they have been involved in huge scandal where the top leadership was charged with embezzling OVER 500 MILLION EUROS (that we know of). That investigation was kick started by a group of small businesses getting an anti corruption task force involved that raided their HQ and found so much evidence of Swiss bank accounts and dummy corporations that they are still going through it even this year.

So I was very pissed off today after a conversation with my local SGAE representative. So much so that I vowed to dedicate my life to digging up what I can about SGAE and making it public. I know they are thoroughly corrupt and that is why I stopped paying. Ever since I found out about the hundreds of millions stolen from small businesses by them I cut the faucet off.

So I have found something that I think has not been noticed before. I am going to present my findings to the nationally published newspaper "la Nueva España" once I finish my preliminary investigation. That is in part why I am here on ATS. I know that some journalists are members and perhaps you could use what resources you have at your disposal to find out a little more. You can take the story and make it your own. I dont care.

So the scoop.

It turns out that SGAE has a luxury apartment in NY. To be exact.

Sgae
Sociedad General De Autores Y EditoresSgae Co
240 E 47th Street Apartment 12b
New York, NY 10017-2134

Beautiful and luxurious high rise building located in a prime location in Midtown East. The building is a short walk from the United Nations, Grand Central Station and many well known restaurants and stores. This 45 story building has 133 apartments and was built in 1983.

The building features a full- time doorman and concierge. Additional features include a health club, party room, indoor pool located on the top of the building, sauna, roof-deck, children’s playroom and more. The apartments in this building have oversized windows, marble baths, wood floors. Many of the apartments have balconies with amazing views of the city and some have washers and dryers.

Building Amenities

Doorman Live-in Super
Elevator Swimming Pool
Outdoor Space

Roof Deck

www.manta.com...
streeteasy.com...

More Details for Sgae
Sgae in New York, NY is a private company categorized under Music Licensing and Royalties. Our records show it was established in 1924 and incorporated in New York.

While this seems like nothing. An apartment.....if true it is HUGE. A luxury apartment with a view...I checked. This particular apartment has a view of the east river and a beautiful park. It is right around the corner from fine dining, a great YMCA, the Consolate of the Bahamas, and other price rocketing local Amenities.

This HAS to cost MILLIONS just to keep as a place to entertain guests and friends when on "official" business.
I am sure that if true, this will lead to other out of country holdings that the average Spaniard would LOVE to know about.

So any help?

EDIT:
Here are some sales listing for apartments in this building:

SALES LISTINGS FOR THIS BUILDING
SAVE Active Listings (3)
$2,995,000
240 East 47th Street #PH41AF 2 beds 1,736 ft²
$1,295,000
240 East 47th #25B 2 beds 1,183 ft²
$775,000
240 East 47th Street #10E 1 bed 650 ft² `

And a whois turned up nothing really BUT here it is anyways.
whois.domaintools.com...

streeteasy.com...

The only way I could help is by giving this thread a star, a flag and a bump.

I'll have a dig about them but pressed for time until my little ones go to bed.

What else have you found out about them?

reply to post by SilentE


Well they are actually an international private entity. They are married to the government here in Spain, but have NOTHING to do with it. Their "page" /link to the official Spanish government page they have is actually being hosted in the US. They are a US based company that operates internationally. They may just have offices in the US. The thing is they have like dozens of dummy corporations everywhere.

Some one is making a killing by using public Spanish tax money and its legal system to extort millions from small businesses in Spain.

They are also not some recent concoction. I am still trying to see how much this property sold for, when, and who did the buying for SGAE. The building was built in 1983, so I would guess that particular apartment has had several tennents. All of which were VIP people so I may not turn up much. Still I am working on it. Maybe its available somewhere.

I want to first confirm the information I have thus far before I go nuts.

Not sure if this helps at all, but I was able to find this listing regarding current estimated value of that apt.

www.homes.com...

240 E 47th St Apt 12b, New York, NY 10017
$1,160,200 *est. value |

There is also this site that lists transactions (sales or rentals) of the units in that building. However, I did not see that particular apt anywhere, and the further back you go in the transaction list requires a subscription...but it may give you some info.

streeteasy.com...

Michelle

Originally posted by tadaman
reply to post by SilentE

 

Well they are actually an international private entity. They are married to the government here in Spain, but have NOTHING to do with it. Their "page" /link to the official Spanish government page they have is actually being hosted in the US. They are a US based company that operates internationally. They may just have offices in the US. The thing is they have like dozens of dummy corporations everywhere.

Some one is making a killing by using public Spanish tax money and its legal system to extort millions from small businesses in Spain.

They are also not some recent concoction. I am still trying to see how much this property sold for, when, and who did the buying for SGAE. The building was built in 1983, so I would guess that particular apartment has had several tennents. All of which were VIP people so I may not turn up much. Still I am working on it. Maybe its available somewhere.

I want to first confirm the information I have thus far before I go nuts.

edit on 14-3-2013 by tadaman because: (no reason given)

edit on 14-3-2013 by tadaman because: (no reason given)

Forgive my ingorance but how would one know they are dummy companies?

Eta: I found this article about the raid you mentioned.
SGAE-gate. Spanish Collecting Society Facing Corruption
They seem very corrupt. Gatecrashing weddings just to make sure musicians have payed for the rights.
Sounds like something out of the Godfather.

reply to post by SilentE


well that is how they embezzled hundreds of millions. That much I got from the news over the last year.

they used front corporations to bill themselves for services and consulting among other things.

reply to post by Michelle129th


thanks for that.

It is a shame I didnt check back here first. I have been posting this on every news paper I can think of in Spain and that would have been great to include. So far my generic message seems to point in the right direction, BUT that would have been better than the listings for the available apartments in that building.

I wonder how much they paid back before the market took a dive.....

thanks again.

reply to post by tadaman


S&F

When I lived in Colorado, US, I worked for a time at a privately owned Coffee House. What I didn't realize until it had happened, was that we were not allowed to have a 'speaker-system', because a specific company (I can't remember the acronym) that dealt with, you guessed it, Royalty and Music Copyright, would charge $1500 for a years license.

That meant that although we supported local culture, any art or events we had there, the music had to be 'original', and that it had to be live - more or less - because we weren't allowed to have a PA system. If I remember correctly, it had something to do with karaoke (which, obviously, wasn't allowed due to copyright infringement).

At first I thought my boss/the owner was joking, but I read the letters. Not that I personally knew of any agents lurking in the area, but now that you mention it.. the fact that we never even tried to listen to music 'when they weren't around' because she was worried about getting fined.. makes sense, if they really do employ PI gestapo tactics to levy money from small-businesses.

If I can get in touch with her, I may be able to find out which company it was. Wouldn't it be a kicker if it was related to this . .

reply to post by Fimbulvetr


Yeah, same.

For me it was my city hall that had an ordinance that forbid me from even applying for a licence for amplified music.

Since my building was built before a certain date and it is on a corner....I cant have speakers...go figure. Something about the vibrations, which is dumb because my neighbors have it no problem. I just fall into a legal limbo that isnt covered. So no license for me.

What I did was crawl into the air duct system, (I am serious) and placed my speakers in the vents that face down into my cafe.

The music sounds great. I have NO speakers in my place.....they are above it...lol

They cant get in there without my consent since I have the only access, and they cant charge me with anything since I dont own that part of the building above my place. They could tear up the floor above me, but they wont.

So I found a loop hole to the legal limbo. If not I would not have the ability to play great music.

It is also my saving grace. I cant have music in the place, so they cant charge me with royalties violations since I cant legally have music. I cant even apply for a license.

So if they take me to court, I will win. Music in the place? Oh I dont know.......Ask the people upstairs, they play the music kind of loud.