Use music

Branches & more

• Where do I find specific information on industry sectors, business communities and associations?

  Under industry sectors & more (only in German), we have compiled infos for the groups mentioned earlier.  If you run a catering trade, hotel, fitness studio, or have a cultural business, carnival association or theatre, you can find all relevant details on GEMA there: How you register the music use, what tariffs apply in your case, answers to frequently asked questions and much more.

• Why is there no page for my industry sector/business community/association?

  We are launching the pages step by step and add new ones bit by bit. It is therefore worth your while to check out our overview - maybe the page you are looking for is there next time.

• I have signed a license agreement with GEMA for my gym/dance studio. Does this also cover the use of music online?

  Online uses are usually not covered by existing contracts for on-site music use in the studio.  Such uses are licensed via tariff VR-OD 10, provided that they are on demand uses.  
  
  For additional information on registering your gym, please visit our page for gyms.

• We are a sports association. Do we have to notify GEMA of our club events?

  Yes, you must register your club event with us. Whilst some people are surprised that clubs also have to report their use of music to us, there is a simple reason for this: we, GEMA, represent the interests of music creators by ensuring that their intellectual property is protected and that they are fairly remunerated for the use of their works. After all, composers, lyricists and music publishers need to make a living too. By the way: we are a club too. You can find out exactly how we work at GEMA at a glance.
  
  Public music must be registered:

  Anyone who performs, plays or reproduces music in public must pay a fee to GEMA, which we pass on to the artists in the form of royalties (minus administrative costs). This applies to clubs and volunteers just as much as it does to event organisers, catering businesses and private individuals. An event is considered public if it is open to people who have no personal connection to the organiser or who do not have a relationship with one another. Club parties are also generally public because the participants are not friends or relatives, i.e. they do not (necessarily) have a personal connection with one another. 
  
  Register the music in good time:

  If music is to be played at your club’s party or even just as background music during a half-time break, please register it with us in advance. You can do this very easily via the GEMA online portal – simply select ‘Calculate price & register music’. It is important that we are able to give our approval before the event takes place. 
  
  Choose the right rate:

  Whether it’s a parade, a sporting event, a club party or a live concert: we offer the right rate for every one of your club events. You can find more details in our rate overview.
  
  Some federal states cover the fees for voluntary organisations:

  Currently, some federal states cover the GEMA licence fees for voluntary organisations for up to four club events per year. You can find out more about the flat-rate schemes on the relevant pages for Bavaria, Hesse, Lower Saxony and Thuringia.

• How high are the GEMA fees for the retail trade?

  GEMA royalties for the retail sector are based on the size of the shop premises, the medium used (original CDs, streaming, radio or television broadcasts) and the contract term. The size of the premises is calculated in tiers: up to 100 square metres, up to 200 square metres and other size categories. With an annual contract, the monthly royalty is lower than with a monthly contract, although the annual contract can only be terminated annually.

  You can find a clear overview of all the rates in the GEMA rate overview for the retail sector, doctors’ surgeries, hairdressing salons and similar establishments. In addition to the royalty rates for background music, this overview also includes the rates for music on hold, online use (on a limited scale) and for reproduction (e.g. copying original CDs). The fees already include all surcharges from GVL (Gesellschaft zur Verwertung von Leistungsschutzrechten mbH), VG Wort (Verwertungsgesellschaft Wort) and Corint Media GmbH, for which GEMA handles collection.

  To calculate the price applicable to your use and register the music, please use the GEMA price calculator. 

• How do we register a spa concert with GEMA and what do we have to take into account?

  If you are in charge of a health spa or a sanatorium, you register your spa concerts via the price calculator in our GEMA Online Portal. It’s very easy and is done as follows:

  1. Determine the price i.e. the GEMA fee for your spa concert
  2. Log in to or register for the first time at our Online Portal
  3. Enter data and complete your notification

  Tip for frequent applicants

  If you notify us of many concerts per month, you can use the monthly notification via our Excel upload. To do this, first log in to our Online Portal and then retrieve the price calculator. In the course of entering your details, you can download an Excel file, complete it and upload it again. This way, you can notify us of several concerts at once. Please do not enter more than 80 concerts per Excel upload.

  Registering concerts that are free of charge

  Spa concerts make their audience happy and add to the attractiveness of your spa. Due to copyright-related reasons, you also need to register concerts that are free of charge and have them licensed through us. With respect to concerts with no admission fee which are directed at the general public, the classification is subject to tariff U-K.

  Since the concerts carry no admission fee, the overall cost for music (e.g. the fees for the artists, light or sound engineers) and the attendance form the basis for the calculation.

  On the distinction between U and E concerts

  Whether a work is categorised as E (serious) or U (entertainment) music, depends on the style of the composition. The entertainment music area includes, for example, dance, pop, jazz and rock music but also works for big band and orchestra line-ups which feature a style that is typical for entertainment music.

  Always submit a setlist

  We always need a setlist for live music and therefore for concerts. Please submit it no later than 6 months after the concert. This is the only way that we can pay out the collected fees to the participating creators.

  Tips on how to submit a setlist

  You can submit your setlists via the GEMA Online Portal with the service My setlists. It is handy to create templates so that you can reuse them each time. You can also delegate the submission of setlists – for example, to musicians and artists.

  These are the details the setlist must include

  In the setlist, we need

  • The title/s of the musical work/s,
  • creator, artist and, where applicable, arranger.

  For concerts with serious music, we also need

  • the number of performing artists (musicians, singers),
  • the duration of the title, it is an important clue to determine the right work version.

  Should you have it, please also indicate the membership numbers of the creators and their work numbers, as well as the names of the publishers.

  Find out more

  You can get more general information on concerts on our concert page. There, you can also find out how we distribute for spoken word cabarets and comedy.