The tariff that GEMA and the concert associations, represented by the Association of German Concert Agencies and the Federal Association for the Concert and Promoters Business governs the licensing process of concerts from 01 January 2018 onwards.
The structure of the tariff remains unchanged. The differentiation between small concerts with up to 2,000 attendees, medium-sized concerts with up to 15,000 attendees and major concerts with an audience of more than 15,000 attendees. What has changed, however, is the calculation basis for tariff U-K. The new tariff clarifies that any services included in the ticket price (such as camping allocations for festivals) will be part of the licence fee calculation. This also applies to additional services which only become valid in connection with the acquired ticket. The tariff levels will - in future - no longer be calculated on the basis of the gross but net turnover. To offset this, the tariff rates were increased as follows:
| Concert audience numbers | Up to 31/12/2017
Licence fee in % of the gross
turnover from ticket sales | From 01/01/2018
Licence fee in % of the net
turnover from ticket sales |
|---|
| up to 2,000 people | 5,00 % | 5,75 % |
|---|
| up to 15,000 people | 7,20 % | 7,60 % |
|---|
| More than 15,000 people | 7,65 % | 8,00 % |
|---|
Georg Oeller, member of the GEMA Management Committee, considers the newly agreed audit rights for GEMA to be a significant negotiation success: “With the new tariff U-K, it was possible for us to implement audit rights of the concert organisers’ documentation relevant for the licensing process. This is an important step for GEMA’s work. Especially in the ticket sales market which is subject to strong growth, cue on secondary ticketing, these audit rights are rather significant when it comes to the evaluation of a fair payment for music authors.”
GEMA negotiates licence and tariff rates on behalf of its 70,000 members, including composers, lyricists and music publishers. An adequate remuneration for their musical works at concerts is thus of major importance to them. The intensity of music usage is highest during concerts, even though the authors of the music hardly ever stand on stage themselves. Their compositions and lyrics are often performed by artists. That is why it is so important that authors also receive their fair share in the turnover generated by ticket sales.
GEMA represents the copyright of more than 70,000 members (composers, lyricists and music publishers) in Germany, and more than two million copyright owners globally. It is one of the largest societies for authors of musical works in the world.