Artists and musicians want to receive fair payment for their works. Anyone who wants to play their music in a public setting must obtain permission from the respective author. The path often inevitably leads to GEMA. When GEMA fees apply.
What is GEMA?
GEMA stands for “Society for Musical Performance and Mechanical Reproduction Rights” and ensures that artists and musicians are paid for the exploitation of their music. According to its own information, GEMA owns the usage rights of over 80,000 music publishers, composers and lyricists.
By concluding any membership agreement, the composer transfers many rights to GEMA, including performance and reproduction rights. This means that in order to be able to play the piece of music for public use, the license must be purchased from GEMA, as they are now the rights holder for the piece of music. This means that organizers do not have to contact the artists separately for each individual piece of music and negotiate the respective license rights and fees, but often have a central contact point in GEMA. If the author of the piece of music is a member of a foreign collecting society, GEMA in Germany also protects their rights, according to “Eventfaq”. Likewise, it does not matter to GEMA whether the piece of music is played in the original version, performed or, for example, sung in the form of a cover version.
An essential aspect of whether GEMA fees are levied is the public nature of the exploitation and use of the works. This raises the question: When do we speak of a public event – and when is the event private?
No fees for private events and parties
Private individuals rarely have to worry about GEMA fees, as they usually do not play music at public events. According to the social association VdK, there are no GEMA fees for hosts of birthday parties or other private celebrations such as a wedding. If the people present have a personal relationship with each other or with the organizer, an event is classified as private. However, if an event is considered public or if the exploitation takes place in a public setting, a GEMA fee must be paid according to the VdK.
In these cases, an event is considered public
According to “Eventfaq”, an event is considered public as soon as the “number of participants cannot be defined, the participants are not internally connected to each other or to the organizer and the music is intended for the participants”. This means that events such as company parties, such as the company Christmas party, or a club party are classified as public by GEMA and are therefore subject to a fee, as “Eventfaq” notes. Owners of bars, restaurants, discos, as well as radio and television stations are also among those liable to pay. Companies that play music while on hold on the telephone, in an answering machine announcement or on a website also have to pay GEMA fees.
An exception applies to street musicians. As “Amazona” reports, GEMA has a contract with the “Federal Association of Music Organizers”, according to which GEMA waives any claims in the case of street music.
“Eventfaq” advises carefully checking the public nature of the event in advance, as often an event that is assumed to be private turns out to be public, for example in a school or university setting. Finally, GEMA fees must always be paid in advance. Public use of the music without GEMA’s permission is a criminal copyright infringement and can be punished with twice the amount of the original fees. If you are unsure whether there will be fees for a planned event and, if so, how high they will be, it is worth calling GEMA in person and finding out more.
Editorial team finanzen.net