Due to the corona crisis, GEMA is also faced with a special situation with regard to planning the General Assembly/Annual General Meeting in 2020: In addition to the legal and organisational requirements, protecting the health of our members and being in compliance with safety measures and official regulations stipulated for this purpose is our top priority. In order to meet these requirements, the Supervisory Board and the Managing Committee have decided, after carefully examining various implementation options, to follow the example of many other organisations and hold a purely virtual AGM this year. The legal basis for this is a law of 27 March 2020, which allows associations and other organisations to hold this kind of General Assembly due to the corona pandemic.
Even though the procedure of the virtual AGM will naturally differ from that of a meeting in person, GEMA will do everything in its power to enable its members to participate fully in the democratic process. For this purpose, GEMA will provide various pieces of information and interactive participation options such as e-voting in the run-up to the meeting and live streaming, live discussion and live voting during the meeting.
In the following you will find information on the agenda and your opportunities to participate as well as the most important dates of the AGM.
Invitations, agenda and transparency report
This year, the invitation to the AGM posted six weeks before the date of the meeting - i.e. from 18 August 2020 .
The agenda for the AGM and the transparency report to be published according to the German Act on Collective Management Organisations can be downloaded here:
Agenda 2020 (only available in German)
Annual Report 2019
Members who have submitted an application before 31 December 2019 to receive the agenda by post, will be sent a printed agenda version by mail three weeks before the Annual General Meeting.
Further information on the agenda
Further information (explanatory videos, presentations etc.) on the individual motions on the agenda are available here:
Agenda item 15 (Member motion “Broadening of the purpose of the association”)
Agenda item 16 ("Revision on the forms of membership")
Agenda item 17 ("Clarifications within the regulations on the service relationship between GEMA and publishers")
Agenda item 18 ("Online rights - Updating the Deed of Assignment on the basis of the EU Directive on Copyright and Related Rights in the Digital Single Market")
Agenda item 19 ("Reform of the rules on shares")
Agenda item 20 ("Separate commission deduction for the distribution of income from statutory remuneration rights")
Agenda item 21 ("Registration of advertising spots using sound files")
Agenda item 22 (Member motion "Programme submission for stage music")
Agenda item 23 (Member motion “Determination of point values by GEMA“)
Agenda item 24 (“Frequency/Regularity of transmissions in the broadcasting sector”)
Agenda item 25 ("Inclusion of DJ acts with concert character in the U category")
Agenda item 26 (Member motion "Abolition of the minimum collection for radio distribution (radio) and pooling of stations below the former minimum collection threshold")
Agenda item 27 ("Adjustment of the distribution in the M category for the 2020 financial year due to the corona pandemic")
Agenda item 28 ("Pro rata temporis as a rule for direct distribution upon application in M category")
Agenda item 29 ("Allocation of VOD categories in the supplementary allocation in GOP and GOP VR")
Agenda item 30 ("Promotion of contemporary music creation")
Agenda item 31 (Proposals of the Attendance Allowance Committee on the remuneration of travel time and the remuneration of video and telephone conferences)
Agenda item 32 (Amendment of item 1 paragraph 1 of the Internal Procedural Rules of the Complaints Committee)
Ways to participate
The sequence of the virtual AGM will be based as far as possible on the procedure of the meeting in person: There will be a virtual meeting of the associate and affiliated members on 29 September, virtual meetings of the professional groups and the virtual meeting of full members on 30 September and 1 October.
The following ways to participate are available to you for a convenient and safe attendance from home. Please note that these participation options require an online registration in advance of the AGM with your password from the invitation and your membership number. If you do not know your membership number, please contact us as soon as you receive the invitation at the address below.
Personal digital participation during the AGM
All affiliated, associate and full members can participate in their meetings via live stream and live discussion. Elections and votes at the meetings of the full members and delegates of associate and affiliated members shall be conducted by digital livevoting. If you wish to personally attend the virtual AGM, please register here between 26 August 2020, 10am (German time) and 15 September 2020.
To the online registration system (Link will be available soon)
A video explaining how to participation in person in the virtual AGM will be available here in the next few days:
How-to-Tutorial-Video
An overview in PDF form for participation in person in the virtual AGM can be found here:
How-to-Tutorial-PDF
Simplified and extended e-voting in the run-up to the AGM
Full members and delegates who cannot attend the AGM for time reasons can cast their votes in advance by e-voting. In order to facilitate participation, the registration procedure will be simplified this year and the period for voting by e-voting extended to a total of two weeks. If you wish to participate in the e-voting, please register here between 26 August 2020, 10am (German time) and 01 September 2020, 6pm (German time).
To the online registration system
After successful registration, you can log in to the e-voting system here and cast your vote between 9 September 2020, 10am (German time) and 22 September 2020, 6pm (German time):
To the e-voting (Link will be available soon)
Representation by proxy
Furthermore, full members have the possibility to authorise a proxy or deputy/representative for digital participation in the AGM. If you wish to be represented at attend the virtual AGM by a proxy, please register here between 26 August 2020, 10am (German time) and 15 September 2020.
To the online registration system
Please note the following important change: A transfer of several votes to a proxy/deputy is technically not compatible with live voting. A proxy/deputy may therefore, exceptionally, only represent one member this year and exercise the voting rights etc. for that member. Each member must therefore register a separate proxy/deputy via the online registration system. Please also note that for the same reason only external proxies/deputies (= no GEMA members) can be authorised.
Example:
- A full author member can, if necessary, register a family member or another trusted person as a deputy. The deputy may not be a GEMA member and may only represent this author member.
- A full member of a publisher who wishes to attend the AGM must register a deputy (person working for the publisher or other person). The deputy may not be a GEMA member and may only represent this publisher.
If required, we will be happy to assist you in finding a deputy. To do so, please send an e-mail with the subject line "Representation by proxy" to the following e-mail address by 24 August 2020: mitgliederversammlung@gema.de
Exercise of voting rights by associate and affiliated publisher members
The same restrictions apply to the exercise of voting rights by associate and affiliated publisher members as to proxy voting. A publisher's representative can, as an exception, only represent one member of the publishers this year. Therefore, a separate publisher representative (owner, managing director, authorised agent, etc.) must be registered for each publisher member. Please register your publisher's representative in the period between 26 August 2020, 10am (German time) and 15 September 2020, 6pm (German time) here:
To the online registration system
Election of substitute delegates at the Assembly of associate and affiliated publisher members
As some publisher delegates have retired prematurely from their office,a substitute delegate election in the professional category of publishers will take place via live stream and live voting following the joint meeting of associate and affiliated members on 29 September 2020. Candidate nominations for this ballot can be submitted to GEMA up to 24 September 2020. Candidatures in the course of the Assembly are not possible for technical reasons.
Please use the following form for your candidacy:
Candidacy Substitute Delegate (only available in German)
You will find further information on the course of the virtual AGM, on your opportunities to participate and on the (technical) requirements for participation in the meeting in your invitation to the AGM and in the overview in PDF form.
Invitations to the AGM (only avalable in German):
Einladung angeschlossene und außerordentliche Mitglieder
Einladung ordentliche Mitglieder
Einladung Stimmrechtsausübung durch angeschlossene und außerordentliche Verlagsmitglieder
Einladung Verlage ohne Stimmrecht
How-to-Tutorial-PDF
Election of the electoral committee
The members of the Election Committee will be newly elected at the professional category meetings on 30 September. A short portrait of the candidates standing for election in the Election Committee can be found here:
Short portraits (only available in German)
Contact details
If you have any questions on organisational or technical aspects relating to the AGM, please contact us via our central email address mitgliederversammlung@gema.de.
You can reach us by telephone Mondays to Thursdays from 9am to 5pm and on Fridays from 9am to 4pm under 030 21245-600.
DATE FOR THE 2021 ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
The GEMA Annual General Meeting 2021 will take place from 08 to 10 June 2021.