Is the GEMA a self-service shop for MainstreMRammusiker?
Until recently, mainly organizers like smaller music pubs and locally active musicians have scolded the GEMA. Meanwhile, the club for billing of artistic turtles has set a cometary career. Soon he will be in the Hitlist of Internet enemies of GEZ the rank.
Because you deal with the net, the GEMA is very interested in being hated:
- The GEMA is to blame that YouTube no longer displays videos (if you do not know how to use one of the numerous proxys),
- The GEMA forbids small children the singing of Martin songs,
- The Gema is about to discrecuin.
A few weeks ago and she is also responsible for gasoline prices.
Blob: Who or what is this Gema overhead?
When writers or musicians have created a work, they achieve revenue by selling usage licenses. For example, to a publisher, which pays you a share of the book or CD selling price.
But what if the book is borrowed in the booking? For this use of the factory, the author is just as a freezing, as the musician has a claim when his song is running on the radio.
Since neither all authors with all birds nor all the musicians with all radio stations would withdraw with all radio stations, there are virtually worldwide legitimized collecting societies. In these, the authors organize and agree on the conditions, including, for example, radio stations play music. The radio stations pay tingeums to the collecting societies, which in turn distribute the money possible in justice among the authors.
The money itself comes from the most diverse levies, which at the end we finance consumers: empty cassettes have been provided since the 1970s when buying with a GEMA delivery, now consequently CD and DVD blanks and even hard drives. TV and radio stations pay as well as the public reproduction of GEMA-protected music, such as pubs, department stores, operators of telephone systems, showers, hairdressers and dentists (where the latter may have no longer pay after a recent judgment of the European Court of Justice). Gerates used to reproduce and recording are also used with the "GEMA tax" Provided: For CD recorder, MD players, computers and smartphones, different transactions are covered by GEMA (and other collecting societies) to copyrights and publishers.
The legal bases of the collecting societies can be found in the Copyright Act and the Copyright Perception Act. The companies are founded by the authors and managed themselves. In Germany, for example, the VG word represents all authors, the Gema all musicians. The British counterpart to GEMA is the PRS for Music.
Legal negative liabilities of organizers and musicians strain
So far, the GEMA criticism became a big part of organizers and musicians who are not members who are fueled. And there are many criticisms.
In addition to the statements, which by simplification from the 1.1.In 2013, apparently many clubs financially print out the air, the GEMA guess is a major entertainment.
According to this guess, which also existed in court, the burden of proof revolves. Anyone who only plays music from authors on a public event that did not transfer the perception to the GEMA must prove that for each individual song. If that does not succeed only for a single song, for the entire event fell on — a situation that has often held the right of judgment of organizers and Creative-Commons musicians
Also, who provides Gema-protected works legally on his homepage for download, must pay the GEMA — and even if he is the originator. Only the technical effective stream own music is free of charge. And even for the self-distributed ton carrier with its own music must be licensed to the author at the GEMA:
If a soundtrender variety of the clients and the authorized author as GEMA member are identical, a copyright license is also to be obtained for this production. The GEMA member has transferred the relevant rights of use in accordance with the authorization contract to the GEMA for extremely loyal trust perception. For this reason and for reasons of equal treatment of legal users, GEMA is obliged to a collection.
(Gema homepage)
In other words: GEMA members who want to operate the marketing themselves must pay for the demo CDs they send to broadcasters.1 In contrast to the VG word, which is only about the works Kummert, which I report to it, GEMA members with the signing of the accession clarification namely their entire creation transfer the rewinders.
This is fun to be forgotten that Ofter Songs were forgotten and stubborn in the artists with the artists — a presence presumption congruent to GEMA presumption. Clear that in the current upwind of Gema-Bashings also musician will become loud.
Of the "Isarmatrose" Tobias Schwarz reports on a podium discussion in which the Berlin musician Zoe Leela goes to the court with Gema and listed musicians to the use of Creative Commons licenses instead of GEMA membership.
I wondered weeks ago, why no grass root revolution of GEMA members takes place — should the members suffer from a kind of Stockholm syndrome?
In fact, it is that the association organized as a club and therefore democratically leaders GEMA only about 5% of the persons, for whose music tortumen are conceded, are entitled to vote. By the statutes, only members, within three years 30?.000 EUR receiving exclusion, the application for such "Ordinary membership" place.
Since the 5% voters "ordinary members" Last year, 64.2% of the struts have been tied up, the displeasure of many alternative musicians is preprogrammed. Even the Wikipedia unsettled to the neutralization writes about the development of the fent teams:
Furthermore, it becomes visible that the inner-proof distribution of the removal of the status group of ordinary members has continuously increased at the expense of the extraordinary members.
Comparisons with structures, where you are rising through revenues in the hierarchy, are close. Zoe Leela compares the GEMA with a state, in which all taxes pay but only the richest 5% elections thirst for:
Are the divisions in ordinary, extraordinary and affiliated members in this day and age at all adaquat? And an artist needs the state of GEMA because, if he has a commodity?
Also with the distributional deadlines of the radio tits, she goes to the court:
Newcomers are not billed per airplay, but collectively about the 31 large stations. Then the results of these mainstream and hit transmitters are simply on ambitious providers like Flux FM, Star, Fritz etc. placed. A realistic and unfair distribution deadline, which again serves for the Dieter Bohlens this world.
For newcomer, therefore she does not see any reason to sign up at the GEMA because you can not expect any significant skirts without chartbreaker. And through the complete clearance of all works to the GEMA you will also be hindered in your own, time-free marketing by network. She summarizes it:
The GEMA demands mainstream and destroy careers before they started.
The GEMA itself relies on the right of association, and that the (ordinary) members had decided that everything was so decided. Blob have no interest in changes in migration, because the revenue from a work can be made to 40% and more from GEMA fees with appropriate reach. Anyone who has made it to the 5% voters to be attributed by gross probability economically from GEMA payments. Every euro at the end of the ages, which is divided under the 95% without voting right, is missing in their own cash register. Parallels with deputy units, in which there is almost all media the term "Self-service" use, are unauthorized.
Many musicians, which are one of the 95% without voting rights, are therefore dissatisfied. But since you have no voting right, you can not contribute to decision-making processes. The GEMA itself hardly seems to be a serious dialogue. Johnny Haeussler, for example, in recent years she invited again and again to Re: Publica. The representative who is on the panel this year "Copyriots" should be discussed, however, was short-term "Because of an important meeting" prevents.
Other collecting societies are democratic and more transparent. Although there are also voting members and persons who only make their rights. However, the step towards the voting member is easier — only 1000 € revenue in three consecutive years are required, and regular publications are already enough in scientific magazines. In addition, the personally voting authors of the VG word are sent to voting representatives in the general meeting and can thus give applications and give their demands voice.
In England it is just too
How much more flexible, just and more transparent music tank can be settled, the counterpart of GEMA from Great Britain shows. The PRS for Music has almost the same tasks as the GEMA, but not its exclusive claim.
Roxanne de Bastion is a musician raised in Berlin living in London. She joined the PRS for Music, even though she could also become Gema member:
Roxanne, You Are Member of Prs for Music. How Does Prs Know That You Have Published A New Song?
Roxanne de Bastion: AS An Independent Musician and Songwriter, It Is My Responsibility to Register My Songs With PRS OR A SIMILAR COLLECTION AGENCY. I Can Do This Via My Online Account. IF My Publishing Information Changes (Say I Signed A New Publishing Deal), IT Would Be My Responsibility To Inform Prs. What If You Want To Give Away A Song, E.G. To Support A Pro Bono Project, Without Royalties?
Roxanne de Bastion: That’s interesting question! In the uk, it is not quite so much "Either OR" AS It Seems to Be With the Gema in Germany. I Have Released My Song "One Morning" Under Creative Commons. AS It’s My Responsibility to Register My Songs With PRS, There’s Nothing Stoping Me From Choosing to Give Away A Song for Free. It Is Exactly This Child Of Flexibility Artists Need More. I Would Like To Be Able To Put My Songs Up Online For Fans To Download For Free, But Do Not Want To Miss Out On Royalty Payments Should This Song Get Played On Radio Stations That Pay Prs Either Way. When You Publish A New Song On Myspace, Do You Get Royalties for People Listening? Or do you have to pay yourself?
Roxanne de Bastion: I Do Not Get Royalties from Any of the Social Media Pages like Soundcloud Or Myspace (is anybody Still Using That?) And I do not need to pay anything. By uploading your songs to thesis streaming sites you forfeit your right to get royalties for them: i’m Sure it’s somewhere in The Small Print. Are You Feeling Comfortable with the Decisions Made by the Board? Can You Tell Us How the Directors Are Electred?
Roxanne de Bastion: There is a Hierarchical Structure Within the PRS That I do not agree with. You Only Get To Be Nominated For Election To The Board IF You Are A "full member". So, Your Vote Counts Times As Much As That of "Associate member". Those Who Do Not Reach The Financial Threshold to Be An Associate Member Are Lovingly ReRed To AS "Provisional Members", Of Which I Am One. We do not have the right to vote. The Board Then Elect The Directors of Prs. Prs Do Try To Inform Members and Send Out Regular Newsletters and Are Almost Always Quick to Reply to Personal Queries. The Reporting So is more detailed Than That of the Gema. HOWEVER, There is Still Much Room for Improvement and I Hope To Lake Independent Musicians and Songwriters Get Together in Order to Change The Structures of Collection Agencies to be more transparent and more egalitarian.
The Gema, it seems, has remained stuck in the past millennium. The debate about new and internet carrying hardness models, such as the cultural flatrates, is currently being discussed by many political and social groups, that it is already almost five after Zwolfen.
In his panel "Mashup — praise of the copy" His Dirk van Gleen presented and discussed the theses of his eponymous book’s theses on the Re: Publica. One of his theses: We already have a kind of precursor of the culture flatrate, namely the collecting societies. In fact, I can also at the VG word "Internet text" bill — even blog posts over 1.500 strike in my and partner blogs are provided with a payment pixel and allow the cash register to ring with sufficient click numbers.
Only the GEMA with its Kafkaesk looking at the concept that musicians do not offer their songs without having to pay for the download for download, denies the new sales and marketing models. Several attempts to ground another collecting society for music, failed at the opposition of the German Patent and Trademark Office, which acts as a supervisory persistence.
Whether a competing recovery company is good for the industry goods doubt you doubt. On Wikipedia is a rough coin between the time before the GEMA basic (calculated) to read 1933. From 1909, there were several competing collecting societies, which basically returned to the interests of authors and users. Kame this situation, radio stations with multiple collecting societies had to extract use of use, split the playlists necessary to distribute the torture and report them to several jobs. Legal uncertainty and an even rough rate through each other than today were the result.
Organizers and other trials pleaded, legally against the building structures and fail regularly in court. Petitions to the Bundestag did not bring a lane success. And although the Ruhrobone propelled the death of GEMA four years ago, she still shows unimpressed from the criticism of her business model.
So only the hard reform of GEMA remains through its members on a legal and political way.