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Why did I not receive any royalties?

This could be due to several reasons:

Option 1: It is possible that the payout has not taken place yet. The payout dates are shown here.

Option 2:  Your details are out of date or have changed, e.g. your bank details or your address details. If your bank details are not up-to-date, royalties are credited to your membership account but cannot be transferred to your bank account. In the case of outdated address details it is possible that we received mail that we sent to you with the remark “return to sender” if the mail could not be delivered. In such cases, a lock is set and not paid out. Should you use the Online Services, you will receive a notification that the address details must be updated or re-submitted. In the case of bank returns, a notification pops up in the Portal.

You can update bank and address details directly in the Online Portal.

If you do not use the portal, please inform us of your new address or bank details by submitting our forms.

Address form (notification and changes)

Bank details forms:
Notification of a bank account – only if domiciled for tax purposes in Germany
Notification of a bank account – SEPA only (EU/EWR excl. Germany)
Notification of a bank account – non-SEPA (USA & outside EU/EWR)

If you do not use the portal, please send us an e-mail to mitgliederpartner@gema.de with the new details and the information that the account is currently locked.

Once your account has been activated and we have the correct address and/or bank details, we will transfer the royalties in the next payment run so that your money reaches you as soon as possible!

Option 3:  An assignment or distraint is associated with the membership account which must be served with priority. It is also possible that an advance has been granted and the royalty credits were offset against the outstanding advance payments. The same applies if the membership account shows a debit balance.

Option 4: Your work has been used but it was not possible to allocate it to a work registration. This means that we could allocate neither the work nor the usage report to you, which is why you have not received any royalties.

These are the reasons: The data quality of the usage report was inadequate. Or, as the case may be, your work has not been registered with us. The online service Identify usages helps you to find out whether this applies to you. 

Further reasons:  If the mentioned reasons do not apply, please submit a claim with the exact details. Find out here how this works in the claim section.

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