They're everywhere in Europe I believe. In Greece there was the notorious AEPI [1] that was collecting fees from both stores, as well as subscriptions from art

They're everywhere in Europe I believe. In Greece there was the notorious AEPI [1] that was collecting fees from both stores, as well as subscriptions from artists so they can "represent" them. They were demanding fees even when a store owner was listening privately in their shop (e.g. they had a radio behind the counter). They were dismantled after a corruption scandal: most of the collected money ended up as exorbitant salaries for the board of directors, with the artists again receiving pennies. [1] https://web.archive.org/web/20170128110611/http://www.aepi.gr/ https://web.archive.org/web/20170128110611/http://www.aepi.g...