Income

Questions and answers

• Does GEMA make a profit?

  GEMA is not aimed at making a profit.
  Instead, we pay out our collections to composers, lyricists, arrangers and publishers who are GEMA members or members of a foreign sister organisation and whose works have been used.
  
  The collections are only subject to a deduction for social and cultural purposes and our own administrative costs.

• Which deductions are made from the income?

  GEMA makes two types of deductions from revenue: deductions for social and cultural purposes, and deductions to cover administrative costs.

  Deductions for social and cultural purposes:

  For social and cultural purposes, 10 per cent is deducted from registration fees, membership fees and revenue from public performance. For International Category A (performance and public performance rights), no deduction is made for social and cultural purposes. Exception: In the online categories GOP, MOD D and MOD S, the deduction will be 1 per cent of the distribution for the 2023 financial year (distributions in 2024).

  Deductions to cover GEMA’s administrative costs:

  Administrative costs are covered by commission rates set by the Supervisory Board and the Executive Board: for online uses, we have allocated 10 per cent of revenue to this until the end of 2025. From 2026, GEMA will reduce the deduction for the categories MOD D, MOD D VR, MOD S, MOD S VR and GOP, GOP VR to 9 per cent. For VOD and WEB, the rate will remain at the familiar 10 per cent. Please refer to your detailed statements for the commission rates applicable to the reproduction and distribution categories.

  In the International Category A (performance and broadcasting rights), 5 per cent was retained, and in the International Category A VR (reproduction rights), 2 per cent was retained until the end of 2025. 
  Exception: A 0 per cent commission applied to sound recordings from Belgium, France, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, Austria, Portugal, Switzerland, Scandinavia, Spain and the United Kingdom.

  With effect from 1 January 2026, GEMA will reduce the commission on payments from abroad.

  • No commission will be deducted in future from revenue from Austria, Switzerland, the USA and the UK.
  • For France, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands, Poland, Denmark, the Czech Republic, Belgium, Sweden, Canada, Japan and South Korea, the commission on foreign revenue will be reduced to two per cent.
  • For all other countries, a deduction of six per cent will be applied.
• What is the GEMA's income used for?

  GEMA distributes all revenue, after deduction of administrative costs, to eligible domestic music authors and, via sister organisations, to foreign music authors. Revenue from rights under Section 30 of the VGG that cannot be distributed – such as amounts below the distribution threshold or royalties that cannot be allocated – is set aside for social and cultural purposes in accordance with Section 30 of the Distribution Plan (as adopted by the 2016 General Meeting). We also use these funds to support cultural initiatives. Incidentally, we do not make a profit – this is prohibited under our Articles of Association. As a collecting society, we operate exclusively in the interests of our members.

• Where do I find details on cases where it has not been possible to determine or locate the rightsholder in the course of a distribution?

  If income cannot be distributed because it is not possible to determine or locate a rightsholder, GEMA has the duty to publish specific details in its role as a collective management organisation pursuant to Section 29 (3) of the VGG, Verwertungsgesellschaftengesetz (Collecting Societies' Act).
  
  We make them available here:

  • Details on deceased rightsholders where no legal successor could be determined or located.
     
  • Details on rightsholders who moved to an unknown address and can thus not be located.
     
  • Details on works for which rightsholders could not be determined or located in the course of the distribution for the 2023 financial year.
     

  Should you be able to provide details on the rightsholders shown in the lists that we could not identify or locate, please e-mail us at: vgg-listen@gema.de
  
  When doing so, please tell us which of the above mentioned lists your information relates to.