{"id":228600,"date":"2025-04-08T18:56:09","date_gmt":"2025-04-08T17:56:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/?p=228600"},"modified":"2025-04-08T20:26:38","modified_gmt":"2025-04-08T19:26:38","slug":"german-collection-society-gema-distributed-1-22bn-to-rightsholders-in-2024-up-4-7","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/german-collection-society-gema-distributed-1-22bn-to-rightsholders-in-2024-up-4-7\/","title":{"rendered":"German collection society GEMA distributed $1.22bn to rightsholders in 2024, up 4.7% YoY"},"content":{"rendered":"MBW\u2019s Stat Of The Week is a series in which we highlight a data point that deserves the attention of the global music industry. Stat Of the Week is supported by\u00a0music data analytics firm\u00a0Chartmetric<\/a>.\r\n\r\n
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German music collection society GEMA has reported a 4.3% YoY<\/span> <\/strong>increase in revenue and 4.7% YoY<\/span><\/strong> bump in royalty distributions for 2024.<\/p>\n

GEMA represents the copyrights of around 98,000<\/strong> members (songwriters, composers, and publishers) along with some 2 million<\/strong> copyright owners from around the world whose works are consumed in Germany.<\/p>\n

In its annual report for 2024, released on Tuesday (April 8), GEMA reported income of EUR \u20ac1.332 billion<\/strong>, or USD $1.442 billion<\/strong> at the average exchange rate for 2024. That\u2019s up from \u20ac1.277 billion a year earlier.<\/p>\n

Of that, GEMA distributed \u20ac1.133 billion<\/strong> ($1.226 billion<\/strong>) to rightsholders, up from \u20ac1.082 billion in 2023.<\/p>\n

That gave the collection society a cost rate of 14.9%<\/strong>, down from 15.2% in 2023.<\/p>\n

With respect to cost rate, \u201cwe are not yet where we want to be in international comparison, but we are on the right track,\u201d said Lorenzo Colombini<\/strong>, GEMA\u2019s Chief Financial Officer.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe result clearly shows that GEMA works efficiently and is consistently improving and digitising its processes. Furthermore, we are investing in new services and technologies to ensure that we remain fit for the market and the expectations of our members and customers in the future.\u201d<\/p>\n

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The collection agency\u2019s fastest growth rate was in public performance rights, which jumped 13.1% YoY<\/strong><\/span> to \u20ac502.0 million<\/strong> ($543.3 million<\/strong>), thanks in part to what GEMA described as a \u201cboom\u201d in live concerts, with 249,610<\/strong> events over the course of the year, attracting 69.87 million<\/strong> attendees.<\/p>\n

Collections from online music were unchanged from the year before at \u20ac310.1 million<\/strong> ($335.6 million<\/strong>), while radio\/TV collections rose 1.2% YoY<\/strong><\/span> to \u20ac308.4 million<\/strong> ($333.8 million<\/strong>).<\/p>\n

\u201cPositive development in the video-on-demand sector continued, while music-on-demand\u2018s market share declined,\u201d GEMA said.<\/p>\n

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Notably, in the previous year\u2019s report, GEMA reported \u201cslight growth\u201d in online music revenues, meaning that growth in this segment over the past two years amounted to just 3%<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

\u201c2024 was marked by geopolitical tensions, economic uncertainty, and disruptive technological developments. In this environment, GEMA demonstrated stability \u2013 financially, organizationally, and culturally,\u201d GEMA CEO Dr. Tobias Holzm\u00fcller<\/strong> said.<\/p>\n

Holzm\u00fcller added that the 2024 distribution \u201cis not only an economic achievement but also an expression of our responsibility towards music creators in Germany and around the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

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GEMA\u2019s 2024 numbers were somewhat softer than the numbers for Germany\u2019s recorded music industry. The country\u2019s Federal Association of the Music Industry (BVMI<\/strong>) said earlier this year<\/a> that recorded music sales in Germany rose 7.8% YoY<\/strong><\/span> \u20ac2.38 billion<\/strong> ($2.58 billion<\/strong>) in 2024, with digital music surpassing the two-billion-euro mark for the first time.<\/p>\n

Digital music brought in \u20ac2.001 billion<\/strong> ($2.17 billion<\/strong>), up 11.2% YoY<\/strong><\/span> and accounting for 84.1%<\/strong> of all music sales in the world\u2019s fourth-largest music market.<\/p>\n

Excluding downloads and other digital sales, streaming saw growth of 12.6% YoY<\/strong><\/span>, accounting for 78.1%<\/strong> of music revenue, BVMI said in a report issued in February.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe remain firmly committed to fair rules for the digital use of music \u2013 including in relation to major platforms and AI providers.”<\/p>\n

Dr. Tobias Holzm\u00fcller, GEMA<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Over the past year, GEMA has been notable for its work to address issues related to artificial intelligence. The org says it\u2019s the first collection society in the world to file lawsuits against developers of generative AI, having sued ChatGPT maker OpenAI<\/strong><\/a> last November, alleging the company used copyrighted lyrics without a license to train its AI.<\/p>\n

Earlier this year, GEMA filed a lawsuit<\/a> against AI music platform Suno<\/strong>, alleging the company had illicitly used music recordings to train AI. (Suno, along with rival Udio, is also facing a copyright lawsuit in the US, brought by record companies owned by the three music majors, Sony Music Group<\/strong>, Universal Music Group<\/strong>, and Warner Music Group<\/strong>.)<\/p>\n

Also last year, GEMA proposed a licensing model<\/a> for use of copyrighted music in AI development, and issued an \u201cAI charter\u201d<\/a> meant to guide the use of AI technology in music, and assert the rights of human creators in developing AI-driven music-making technology.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe remain firmly committed to fair rules for the digital use of music \u2013 including in relation to major platforms and AI providers,\u201d Holzm\u00fcller said.<\/p>\n

\u201cCreativity needs protection, and copyright remains a fundamental pillar of our culture. We will continue to help shape that protection with innovative foresight and our strong advocacy for legal clarity.\u201d<\/p>\n

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<\/a><\/figure>Chartmetric<\/a> is the all-in-one platform for artists and music industry professionals, providing comprehensive streaming, social, and audience data for everyone to create successful careers in music.<\/em><\/span><\/strong>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Performance rights collections have seen a sharp spike amid tepid growth from online music<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":46,"featured_media":228616,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[133486,132150,193,133959,131726],"class_list":["post-228600","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-133486","tag-annual-report","tag-gema","tag-lorenzo-colombini","tag-tobias-holzmuller"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/228600","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/46"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=228600"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/228600\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/228616"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=228600"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=228600"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=228600"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}