Our distributions as of 1 April 2024
Our online categories
As of 1 April 202a, you will receive royalty distributions for uses of your works in our online categories music (streaming & download), video (streaming & download), mixed online platforms and web (including background music on websites).
Information on which streaming and download platforms are included in the distribution as of 1 April 2024 and with which usage periods can be found here.
Music on Demand (Streaming & Download)
Our music on demand categories include pan-European uses. Uses outside of the pan-European region are licensed by our sister organisations and paid via the international income categories A and A VR to our members.
If you wish to find out more about the distribution in our online categories music (streaming & download), it’s worth taking a look at our page on the MOD distribution.
Video on Demand (Streaming & Download)
Video on demand includes the use of music in films and series that can be viewed directly via streaming or downloaded from internet platforms such as Netflix, Amazon Prime or Disney+.
The video on demand categories exclusively contain uses from within Germany. Uses outside of Germany are licensed by our sister organisations and paid via the international income categories A and A VR to our members.
Detailed information about Video on Demand can be found here.
Mixed online platforms
If your music is played on social media platforms such as YouTube, Facebook or TikTok, you will receive distributions in the mixed online platforms’ categories.
As usual, we distribute the income on the basis of usage reports on 1 April 2024. We would like to make the following note in connection with the YouTube enriched service (1st quarter 2023): For technical reasons, there will be a partial distribution, which will be supplemented with the subsequent date 01 July 2024.
Detailed information on the mixed online platforms’ categories can be found at GOP distribution page.
Sound recordings
On 1 April, there is a backlog distribution in the category sound recordings (carriers) mechanical rights (Phono VR). The main distribution for the 1st semester 2023 has already been paid out on 1 January 2024.
Informations about sound recordings you can find here.
International
In the international income categories A and A VR (mechanical rights), we distribute revenues from our sister organisations for uses of the GEMA repertoire in their respective territories.
Information, on which countries and periods are distributed as of 1 April 2024, can be seen here.
Informations about sound recordings you can find here.
Statutory remuneration rights
As of 1 April, you are going to receive a payment for statutory remuneration rights (GVA). These include remuneration rights arising from private copying (e.g. if you burn a CD or copy music onto a USB stick), library rentals and lending, and the use of music for teaching, science and in other institutions. Revenues from the statutory remuneration rights are distributed as a supplement. This means that a further share is added to distributions in certain categories that have already taken place.
In addition to the regular income from the GVA, GEMA has received extraordinary income from private copying from the ZPÜ "Zentralstelle für private Überspielungsrechte" for financial years 2009 to 2021 already completed. The distribution will also be made as a supplement on 1 April 2024.
More on this can be found in the supplementary information on the distribution.
GOExport! - GEMA Music abroad
The music by our members is not only successful in Germany. Many of their works are also listen internationally. A significant part of our total revenue, approximately 6%, is generated from overseas.
Among the top 50 GEMA works played abroad, several are German-language songs. For instance, Atemlos durch die Nacht by Helene Fischer, written and composed by Kristina Bach, is a major hit not only domestically, but also tops the charts in Austria and Switzerland. Uwe Fahrenkrog-Petersen and Carlo Karges wrote a timeless classic with 99 Luftballons. In Nena’s interpretation, this hit is still indispensable at every party and is even played across countries in the English version.
The export of German music isn’t always so overt. Behind the sounds and lyrics of the all-time favorite What is Love are Karin Hartmann-Eisenblätter and Dieter Lünstedt as authors. Until today, the song remains an international GEMA hit. And who would have guessed that the founder of our Fred Jay Prize was behind the hit song Rasputin, performed by Boney M.?
Information about our last payouts
Payouts as January 2024
In the categories Mixed online platforms, Music on demand streaming, Sound and audiovisual recordings, International
Payouts as of October-November 2023
In the categories Online, Phono VR, International, Rating, Live and Reproduction
Payouts as of 1 December 2023
GEMA starts distributing income for media libraries as a supplement
FAQs – Frequently Asked Questions about distribution
In the account statements you find the distributions of the statutory remuneration as gross amounts. The cost deductions for each item are listed explicitly and separately, as only these have been subject to VAT last year. This may give you the option to deduct input tax (Vorsteuerabzug).
You can access an overview of your turnover in the Online Portal in the service My royalties. There, you can also find where the royalties come from (live, radio, TV/film, digital or international income) and the revenue generated by your ten most successful works. More on this in the Video.
Detailed statements (individual statements and usage statements) can be accessed in the online portal under My Royalties.
If you cannot access the service yet, get your activation via the GEMA Online Portal. You can also request details on the distribution via e-mail: mitgliederservice@gema.de. They are subject to a service fee.
You can submit a claim for an incorrect distribution quickly and easily using the following options:
You log in to the Online Portal and use the Service Claims.
For missing live events, use the service My setlists in the Online Portal where you can submit your setlists in the form of a complaint/claim.
Please note: Before submitting any claims, please check whether a distribution has already been made for the period and category. You can access an overview of the deadlines and categories here. Please only claim uses, which are not included in your detailed statements (on the Online Portal > GEMA Download) or need to be claimed for other reasons. Pursuant to § 59 of the GEMA distribution plan, claims must contain specific details which permit a verification. You ensure that this is the case by providing the requested details in the Online Portal under Claims. You can access all the details regarding claims here.
When claiming unpaid royalties in the MOD distribution categories, please mind the following important points: If the royalties for use of a work during the specified usage periods of the Digital Service Providers (DSPs) concerned are not included in the royalty payment you received, you should make a claim for missing royalties shortly (at the latest within three months of the respective distribution date according to § 59 of the GEMA Distribution Plan). In order to arrange the licence allowing you to receive those royalties subsequently, the root of the problem (e.g. missing or incorrect declaration or registration, or incorrect classification of the work) needs to be fixed quickly. As a general rule, if information about the artist and label is provided in the work declaration prior to or for publication (ISRC), this helps the licensing and distribution processes run more smoothly.
If the dashboards of the DSPs show higher usage figures than those of our distribution, please consider that DSP dashboards usually show global streaming figures current to the day. Therefore, please check first whether the usage period concerned and the usage figures from the respective DSPs for the respective countries are included in the particular GEMA distribution you received for online and/or international use. If the royalty a stream earns, for example, on Spotify, per country, month and service type (Free, Student, Family, Duo, Premium) is not at least a few cents, we will not distribute it on a per-work basis but by way of supplements per entitled party.
Specific information are required for a claim in order to allow an inspection. Here for please go the Online Portal under claims.
When claiming unpaid royalties for use on mixed-content online platforms (distribution categories GOP/GOP VR), please remember the following: The deadline for such claims is three months, counted from the date of distribution of supplements, which is usually on 1 December of a financial year. The distribution date for this year has been postponed to 1 January 2023. As a result, the deadline for claiming unpaid royalties is automatically postponed accordingly.
You do not have access to the Online Portal yet? Register as a music creator here. Then, you will receive an e-mail with an activation link to set your own password. After that, you complete the activation application which is shown in the Online Portal, and send it through to us. Once your account has been successfully activated, we will inform you.
f you have any questions about our claim procedure, please contact our Member Services Department by email at mitgliederservice@gema.de.
For further information about how to make a claim, please click here.
It is possible that your account statements are still en route to you. They are available to you only a few days after the payout at the beginning of the new month.
The process is as follows:
Detailed breakdowns/statements are available in the online portal under My Royalties.
At the same time, we transfer your royalties to you.
The account statement will be issued and transferred (by post or the Online Portal)
Are you registered for the Online Portal? Then you can access your account statements there:
Simply go to My financial details in Online Portal .
You can access this in the area My account statements.