Despite the challenging situation in society and the economy as a whole, the German music collecting society and one of the world’s largest authors’ societies for musical works, GEMA, achieved its best result ever in 2022. Its total revenues for the financial year were EUR 1.178 billion (a more than 13 per cent increase on 2021’s EUR 1.039 billion). For the first time in GEMA’s history the distribution sum will exceed the billion-euro-mark.
Munich – The lifting of pandemic-related restrictions from the second quarter led to a significant revival of cultural life and a significant increase in revenues from public musical performance. In addition, growth in the online sector continued, especially in music and film streaming. Overall total revenues thus far exceed pre-Corona levels. As a result, the music collecting society will be able to distribute EUR 1.009 billion – more than ever before – to its members and rights owners around the world.
Dr Harald Heker, Chief Executive Officer of GEMA, says: “Our members can expect a very pleasing level of distribution in 2023. Including our collection mandates, the distribution total will exceed one billion euros for the first time. This is a record result. The resurgence of events and music performances means a relief for our members after three hard years. Authors, like almost the entire music and culture industry, have had to make great sacrifices in recent years and now truly deserve this success.”
Total income is offset by expenses of EUR 168.6 million (EUR 152.4 million in 2021). The expense ratio including all costs was 14.3 per cent (2021: 14.7 per cent) and was below the planned level of 15.6 per cent despite the general inflation rate of 7.9 per cent. This is testimony to disciplined budgetary management.
Dr Harald Heker: Copyright must be consistently defended
Besides the revival of the event sector, online revenues also developed dynamically upwards. This was due in part to general market development and re-licensing of old periods, but also in particular to successful contract negotiations for music streaming. Audio streaming continues to be the fastest growing music industry segment. However, authors are still harmed by considerable imbalances in the distribution of revenues, as shown by a study on the German music streaming market from Goldmedia consulting and research, published in September 2022. GEMA has increasingly put this imbalance on its cultural policy agenda. “The trend towards streaming must not lead to authors’ rights being under-mined. GEMA’s most important task is and remains to stand up for fair remuneration in all areas and thus at the same time to secure conditions for a lively and diverse musical and cultural landscape”, Heker continues.
Please find GEMA’s most important revenue areas at a glance here: www.gema.de/annual-report-2022
In Germany, GEMA represents the copyrights of almost 90,000 members (composers, lyricists, music publishers) and over two million rights owners from around the globe. It is one of the world’s largest authors’ societies for musical works.
Press contact:
Ursula Goebel, Director of Communications, e-mail: ugoebel@gema.de, Tel.: +49 89 48003-426
Christiane Hoschek, Senior Communications Manager, e-mail: choschek@gema.de, Tel.: +49 89 48003-421
Source: RealWire