What is a collecting society?
Collecting societies are institutions that collectively manage the rights of authors and other rights holders. In Germany, the Collecting Societies Act (VGG) regulates their tasks:
"A collecting society is an organization which is authorized by law or on the basis of a contractual agreement and whose exclusive or main purpose is to manage copyrights or related rights for the collective benefit of several rightholders, whether in its own name or in the name of another." (Section 2 VGG)
The main function lies in the control of so-called secondary exploitation, for example through public performances, radio play or the use of cover versions. The resulting income flows to the rights holders as royalties.
In addition, collecting societies often act in a similar way to trade unions and attempt to articulate the interests of their members vis-à-vis industry, rights exploiters and politicians. In doing so, they offer legal certainty in the use of protected works.
What does GEMA do?
The Gesellschaft für musikalische Aufführungs- und mechanische Vervielfältigungsrechte (GEMA) represents composers, lyricists and music publishers in Germany. It is also in contact with collecting societies abroad. This means that international assignments and performances can be organized viaGEMA can be settled via GEMA. With more than 80,000 members, it is one of the largest collecting societies in Europe.
Membership - GEMA fees:
Voluntary, with a one-off cost of €90 plus VAT and an annual fee of €50 plus VAT.
International cooperation:
GEMA cooperates with foreign collecting societies to handle rights worldwide.
GEMA vs. YouTube - A long-standing conflict
GEMA in Germany has been demanding license fees for its members' content on YouTube since 2006. The platform initially rejected this and referred to the responsibility of the users. The dispute led to music content from GEMA members in Germany being blocked for years.
The background to the discussion is different views on the role of YouTube. The platform itself sees users as responsible for uploaded content and has long refused to pay the corresponding license fees. GEMA, on the other hand, wanted to make YouTube more responsible. This is particularly due to the fact that the Google company generates high revenues with the help of advertising.
The copyright reform of 2016 brought about an agreement between the parties, which included a future levy system. It led to a new licensing model and refunds to GEMA members. Furthermore, previously blocked content has now been made available again. Nevertheless, discussion points such as upload filters remain controversial, as there are differing views on the role and responsibility of YouTube.
And what does GVL do now?
The Gesellschaft zur Verwertung von Leistungsschutzrechten (GVL) administers the rights of artists, labels and producers. In contrast to GEMA, this is not about authors or publishers. It is about the performers who represent them in a recording. This includes the producers of sound recordings (labels), producers and performing artists.
GVL membership:
The conclusion of a rights administration agreement is free of charge.
Tasks of GVL:
Administration of royalties when the relevant recording is used. This happens, for example, on TV, radio or in discotheques, clubs and restaurants. Furthermore, GVL is also responsible for assigning the label code (LC). This code is usually a mandatory requirement for radio play in Germany.
Managing neighbouring rights with FEIYR
Ancillary copyrights are becoming increasingly important. In Germany alone, revenue from these rights amounted to around 216 million euros in 2020. This represents a 12.1 percent share of the music market.
In order to assert your claims, the collecting societies must have the relevant data on your tracks. The preparation of this data is usually laborious and time-consuming and is subject to different requirements depending on the country.
Your advantage with FEIYR - FEIYR as your digital distributor already has most of the necessary metadata. All you need to do is make a few additions and you can have your titles evaluated internationally. We make it easier for you to manage these ancillary copyrights by providing all the necessary metadata.
We can currently offer the evaluation of ancillary copyrights for numerous countries: Australia, Germany, Ireland, Israel, Canada, Netherlands, Austria, USA, Estonia, Latvia, Norway, Poland, Russia, Switzerland, South Africa, Bulgaria, South Korea, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, UK, Italy, France and Sweden.
You can find more information in your FEIYR account.