Why did I not receive any royalties?

This could be due to several reasons:

Scenario 1: The payout date for the category hasn’t happened yet
Depending on the type of work use (e.g. Live concert, TV broadcast, streaming), there are different distribution categories and payout dates. It is possible that the use of your works was part of a category where the payout hasn’t happened yet.

Solution: Find out about the payout dates for the respective category: Payout dates and deadlines.

Scenario 2: Your bank or address details aren’t up to date
Check your personal details. If the bank details you provided to us 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 In the case of outdated address details, it is possible that we received mail that we sent to you with the remark “return to sender” if the mail could not be delivered.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 service, 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 Online 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:
Bank details – for tax residents in Germany only
Bank details – for tax residents in the SEPA area only (EU/EEA excl. Germany
Bank details – for non-SEPA tax residents (USA & outside the EU/EEA)

If you do not use the Online 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 unlocked and once 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 quickly as possible!

Scenario 3: Assignment or attachment (distraint)
An assignment or attachment that is to be dealt with priority is linked to the membership account. 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.

Scenario 4: Incorrect work allocation
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: DThe 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 usageshelps you to find out whether this applies to you.

Scenario 5: Your work was registered too late
This mainly happens for online categories where the licensing and payout processes are particularly immediate. Check this out for the relevant work registration deadlines:Payout dates and deadlines.

Scenario 6: The use of your works hasn’t been reported
If the use of your works hasn’t been reported, we cannot pay out any royalties. This may occur with live concerts, for example, or whenever the event organisers haven’t submitted any reports.

Solution: In this case, you can submit a claim. Use theClaims service in our Online Portal.

Scenario 7: Deviations due to the distribution plan
The distribution is always based on the GEMA distribution plan. It is possible that certain uses of your works are not subject to the distribution criteria or are only taken into account in part. This happens when works appear together with other works in usage reports (usually in broadcast and online categories). The share of the royalties is then determined proportionally to the total number of work uses.

If a work and usage-based distribution isn’t possible, e.g. because there are no detailed usage reports or because we pay out via a so-called dual distribution model for some categories, then a supplementary distribution is applied. The collections will then be allocated to the distributable amounts of the affected categories in the form of a percentage-based supplement.

Solution: Details on this are in theGEMA distribution plan or on the royalty pages under the relevant distribution categories.

Scenario 8: Technical problems
In rare cases, there may be technical problems during data processing or the payout cycle.

Solution: Please contact us mitgliedeservice@gema.de, if you suspect that there is a technical issue.

Scenario 9: Legal succession or power of attorney/authorised representation
If you are a legal successor or an authorised representative, it is possible that the respecctive rights or entitlements have not yet been cleared or transferred yet.

Scenario 10: International exploitation
If your works are used abroad, the payout to our members is subject to a delay.

Solution: You can check out which periods for what categories and countries have already been paid out on the pagePayout dates and deadlines.

Scenario 11: DJ live acts
If DJs play music in clubs, the remuneration is not paid out via the live categories but via theDK category and the DK VR category (discotheques), so that no royalties are usually paid out in the live categories and claims or setlists are not required.

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