New share rules
Return to service of the Electronic Confirmation Process (ECP) on 6 April
The Electronic Confirmation Process (ECP) has also been adapted to the derivation logic. Until now, the publisher was able to see all authors of a work were shown in the ECP lists and could therefore mark the ones for which it submits a participation claim for statutory remuneration rights. The publisher now only sees those authors in the ECP list for whom the publisher already has a registered agreement in the GEMA works database. Please register a new author-publisher relationship via a work declaration. The publisher may, just as before, add the publisher attribute or remove the author-publisher relationship. This leads to an automated process for the termination of the registered agreement in the work. More details are available under Description of the online service ECP. You find all new features and important tips in the ECP description document on page 3.
Go to Electronic Confirmation Process (ECP)
Adaptations for the work declaration in the Online Portal and the web-based registration process
The input mask for the author-publisher relationship has been customised. An essential component of the new share rules is the derivation of the publisher shares from the shares of the authors published by the publisher. This means that a correct depiction of the publisher shares is only possible if the relationship between an author and the publisher has been documented in the GEMA database. If an author is represented by more than one publisher, the percentage-based share of the derived publisher share onto the publishers taking over the share must be unequivocal and documented accordingly. Please provide these details in the new input mask.
Works with asymmetric VRTs [Vertreten-von-Verweise, represented-by-references] in the existing work documentation
As explained above with regard to the work declaration, in order for a migration of a work to take place into the derivation logic, the relationship between an author and the publisher and, in the case of co-publishers, the percentage-based split of the derived publisher share onto the publishers taking over the share had to be documented unequivocally in the GEMA database. Since these conditions had not been met in each case, at the request of the publishers we will provide you with two new work lists for the sake of transparency.
- The first work list contains asymmetric works which were subject to VRT additions so that a migration into the derivation logic became possible. The work list contains works which occurred in the 2020 financial year and works which were registered for the first time after 1 January 2021.
- The second work list contains asymmetric works with an even share division between the co-publishers of an author after the migration.
With the two attached files, you can check the automatically complemented VRTs and compare them with your own work data.
FAQ – frequently asked questions on the new share rules
At this time, it is envisaged that the new share rules will be applied to the distribution dates from 1 June 2022.
You can find the previous course of the project and the next steps for the conversion to the new share rules in our appointment overview.
Yes, there is. You can get an overview here (document is in German).
Vertreten-Von-Verweise show which creator is represented by which publisher or publishers. They therefore depict which publishing agreements were registered and documented with us.
No. Works with asymmetrical VRTs are works where more than one creator is published by more than one publisher and where one or all of the co-publishers appear in other chains of title, but not in all chains of title.
Example of an asymmetric work:
- C1 is represented by original publishers E1 and E2
- C2 is represented by E2 and E3
- C3 is represented by E3 and E4 and E5
- C4 is represented by E5
The following work is not asymmetrical:
- C1 is represented by E1 and E2
- C2 is represented by E3 and E4
- C3 is represented by E5
- C4 is represented by E5
The following work is not a work with asymmetrical VRTs either:
- C1 is represented by E1 and E2
- C2 is represented by E1 and E2
- C3 is represented by E1 and E2
- C4 is represented by E1 and E2