(CelebrityAccess MediaWire) — Italian collecting society, SIAE, has elected Giorgio Assumma, a lawyer who specializes in entertainment related issues, as its new president. Assumma garnered 50 of 51 possible votes.
The society hopes that Assumma’s appointment will put an end to recent uncertainty concerning the society’s future. His predecessor, Franco Migliacci, co-author of Domenico Modugno’s Grammy-winning 1958 international hit “Volare,” resigned on May 11th. There was considerable speculation in the Italian industry over the summer that the society would return to special government control, or “commissionership,” similar to a period from 1999 to 2003.
“The society’s autonomy, which has come under considerable strain in recent months, is inviolable: it is authors and publishers who should decide the fate of their society,” Assumma said in a statement, according to Billboard. “Precisely because I have been elected democratically, I would continue to do this job, were I ever to get the feeling that the parliamentary commission did not approve of me.”
Critics of SIAE see commissionership as a means of redressing the society’s trouble finances. The majority of society member claim that its finances are in good shape and that government control is, on the contrary, an attempt by Italy’s political parties to get their hands on a powerful and lucrative organization. –by CelebrityAccess Staff Writers
