What level of licensing income can I expect from UGC synchronisation rights and what is the distribution of this income going to look like?

The enhanced licensing possibilities that are offered by the new version of the Deed of Assignment lead to a situation where GEMA can expect additional income from the granting of synchronisation rights to UGC platforms in due course, especially for non-commercial uses.

This additional income will vary depending on the service. For non-commercial UGC, it is expected to be around 10 to 20% of the licensing amounts which GEMA currently collects from the respective services.

As part of agenda item 31, the 2021 General Assembly has now resolved a rule regarding the distribution of such income. Said rule provides that the income from granting synchronisation rights for UGC platforms shall be distributed as part of the GOP VR category. Since it is not likely that specific usage reports for individual uses of synchronisation rights for concrete user-generated contents can be expected in the near future, the income shall be distributed as a special supplement in the GOP VR category (§ 182e para. 2 clause 2 distribution plan, new version). A requirement for participating in the supplementary distribution is that the rightsholder has granted GEMA the synchronisation rights for UGC platforms as part of Article (§) 1 i) (4) of the Deed of Assignment.