The law applies to two categories of income:

• Revenue resulting from the transfer or surrender of copyright or related rights;

The article makes reference to income obtained in exchange for the transfer or surrender by the author or artist of all or part of his or her property rights. In other words, it is the revenue that the author or the artist receives due to the transfer (permanent or temporary) of the right to use his or her intellectual property.

• Revenue resulting from compulsory legal licenses.

Strict application of the rules in the field of copyright or related rights would have the consequence that each use, reproduction or communication of a work or of a protected artistic service would require the authorisation of the author or the artist. Such an approach would of course be unmanageable.

The Law therefore provides for situations in which the user can act without the authorisation of the copyright holder. These are compulsory or legal licenses. In exchange for these licenses, remuneration is collected and distributed by the companies that manage these rights (Sabam, Sacd, Playright, SAJ…) in order to financially compensate the author or the artist for the loss of income resulting from the exceptions made to their exclusive rights.