Music use notifications and licences
Three different ways to use music
Select the section for which you want to license music.
Using music in public
Events
Concerts, parties, dos, celebrations, discos, carnival, parades, fairs, exhibitions etc.
Permanent music use
Background music in hotels, in the catering trade, in commercial establishments or other public venues
Music use on the internet
For those who want to use music for a podcast, a webradio, music or video portal, a private website, company or association/club websites.
You are in the right place here, also when it comes to music for emails, apps, vouchers, QR codes or a GEMA member website.
Music on sound recordings, in films and video games
Music on (sound) recordings, CDs, LPs, audiobooks, multimedia data carriers or music videos.
Cinema productions, television films, commercials, video games, games etc.
Events ranging from A-Z, whether it’s your A-level proms, bowling, circus or Zumba classes: All infos on one page!
Wichtige Corona-Infos für Musiknutzer
Who created the work? Who wrote the music, the lyrics or published it?
If you want to find out who the composer, lyricist or publisher or a musical work is, our Repertoire search will help you find them. This online service enables you to identify works. Once you have found the details, you can contact the participating publisher provided they are a GEMA member.
Don’t forget: The displayed data only show an excerpt of our database and therefore do not provide any information regarding the protection of the displayed work or the status of the participating rightsholders. GEMA does not provide any guaranteed for the correctness of the data provided and accepts no liability for damage incurred by the user either directly or indirectly resulting from the information obtained by using the online service.
Why do I have to pay for music?
Those who earn their living composing music, writing lyrics or publishing music want to get a fair payment for their work. Just like everyone else. That is what copyright is for. It protects music creators with a statutory right to fair pay, or equitable remuneration, when their works are used in public.
By the way: Copyright is applicable in any case - and thus independently of GEMA as an organisation. Your advantage: Instead of contacting and paying each creator individually, you just get in touch with us, and thus get access to the world's musical repertoire. After all, we do not just represent the rights of more than 85,000 GEMA members but also more than two million rightsholders abroad.
This is what happens with my money
The money that we receive from you will be paid out to our members but also the creators from abroad whose works are used all over Germany. The following applies: The more often a musical work is performed, broadcast or reproduced, the more royalties the creators involved receive.
Payment to music creators in Germany
The majority of our pay-outs is sent to our members: music creators and music publishers in Germany.
Payment to music creators abroad
We also pay out collected income to creators abroad because we have entered into representation agreements with collective management organisations abroad.
Pay-outs to social purposes
We make 10 percent of the distributable amount in the performing and broadcasting rights sector available for social and cultural purposes. To this end, we have created the GEMA Social Fund: A social compensation fund which pays out benefits in old age, in cases of illness, accidents and need.
GEMA tariffs - an overview
Do you use music in public, on the internet or by means of sound recordings? Then we are the right contact for you. If you have already registered your music with us and paid for it, you have the right to use this music based on the GEMA licence. The type of use then determines the tariff that applies to you.
Frequently asked questions
What does it cost to use music in public?
Music can be used in many different ways, whether live, in the background, on sound recordings or on the internet. Many ...
How do I know which tariff is the right one?
I need an additional invoice copy. How can I request one?
Do I have to report anything afterwards?
Please always submit event notifications with specific dates such as place, date, attendance where applicable, etc. In the case of specific event types, e.g. ...
Why do I need to submit a setlist (playlist)?
A setlist provides details on the musical works performed during a live event. This way, we can determine which composers, lyricists, ...
Where do I find the form to grant an authorisation or power of attorney?
We provide the corresponding form here.