GEMA for musicians: what a band actually pays in Germany
The concert rates, the cost of membership, the reduced newcomer tariff — and when joining pays off. Germany's system, explained for the band standing in it.
GEMA is Germany's collecting society for the people who write music: it collects money wherever music is used in Germany and pays it out to composers and lyricists. If you perform or release here, this is your system — GEMA is Germany's, and whether your own country runs an equivalent is a question to take home, not one this text answers. At your concert the collecting looks like this: 5.75 percent of net ticket income, plus 7 percent VAT on top of that; where the tickets bring in little, a minimum fee of 30.40 euros holds for the night at up to 150 visitors. The promoter pays — the person or venue putting on the show. Put on the show yourselves and you are the promoter, and the bill is yours.
The other side is what you can get back: whoever writes original songs and joins gets a share of exactly those percentages — including from other people's concerts where your songs are covered. Membership costs 50 euros a year.
| Item | Amount | Who pays |
|---|---|---|
| Concert up to 2,000 visitors (Tarif U-K) | 5.75% of net ticket income, plus 7% VAT | the promoter |
| Newcomer concert (criteria below) | 4.50% of net ticket income, plus 7% VAT | the promoter |
| Minimum fee up to 150 visitors | €30.40 per event (up to 300: €60.80), plus 7% VAT | the promoter |
| GEMA annual fee (songwriters) | €50 a year, offset against your payouts | the band member who writes |
| One-time admission fee | €107.10 incl. VAT (€90 net) — waived if you turn 30 or younger in the application year | same |
What GEMA covers — and what it leaves to others
GEMA represents the people who write: composition and lyrics. Who owns how much of a co-written song is best fixed before the release — how, is in Split sheets for bands. It collects wherever the music is used — concerts, radio, streaming, background music in shops — and distributes to writers and publishers.
Performing is a different right from writing: on a recording, the performers are covered by the GVL, Germany's second collecting society. In a band where two of four write the songs, the GEMA question concerns exactly those two.
Who pays at your concert
The club that books you registers the concert and pays the tariff — routine for them. Rent a room yourselves, sell tickets and put up posters, and you are the promoter with everything that entails: registration before the event, settlement after it, with the licensing details due within 21 working days under the tariff (section II 2.5). Where entry is free or the guests are invited, the tariff is not calculated on tickets at all but on the artists' fees and the production costs (section II 2.2), and sponsorship or public funding raises the calculation basis by a flat 7 percent (section II 2.3).
The setlist is part of that. The tariff requires it within the same 21-working-day reporting deadline; if it does not arrive, 10 percent of the fee is charged on top (sections II 2.5 and II 5, § 42 Abs. 2 Satz 1 VGG). GEMA's concert page says six weeks. Submit it within the shorter deadline. For you as writers, the same list is the reason to take it seriously: the collected money is distributed according to it. If your concert is missing from the setlists, the money is distributed without you.
The newcomer tariff: 4.50 percent instead of 5.75
Concerts that count as youth development work pay a reduced rate of 4.50 percent. The precondition is that the event demonstrably pursues no commercial aims — then four criteria decide, and many young bands meet all four without knowing it: tickets at most 22 euros net, at most 300 visitors, average band age no higher than 27, at least half the programme written by the band. If that describes your night, it belongs in the registration — whether GEMA applies the category by itself, the tariff does not say. The reduction under § 39 Abs. 3 VGG is already inside this rate; no further discount is added to it.
When membership pays off
The 50-euro annual fee is offset against your payouts at the end of the year; you only top up what is missing. The admission fee of 107.10 euros is waived if you turn 30 or younger in the application year — for most newcomers, entirely.
Patience is part of the deal: what GEMA collects in one calendar year, it pays out the following year. Join in autumn, play two shows in winter, and the money for them arrives next year at the earliest.
If your own material plays regularly in front of paying audiences, the payouts as a rule bring the fee back in. If nobody in the band writes, there is nothing to pay out — then you can skip membership altogether.
FAQ: Own songs, covers and joining
Do we pay if we only play our own songs?
Works registered with no collecting society trigger no fee. The event is registered with GEMA all the same, and GEMA asks the promoter for the proof: a complete setlist within six weeks, marked as GEMA-free, which GEMA then checks. Until that happens, GEMA proceeds from its own repertoire — and the tariff is granted as an extended collective licence, which also covers the works of outsiders who have not objected to the grant of rights (section II 7, §§ 51–51b VGG). As soon as one of you is a member, your registered songs are repertoire and the tariff applies — and that money then goes to whoever wrote the songs, provided the setlist was submitted.
What about cover songs?
The promoter pays the same tariff whether you cover or not. The difference is in the distribution: with covers, the money goes via the setlist to whoever wrote the songs. You need no permission of your own to play them — as long as someone else is the promoter and holds the licence; put on the evening yourselves and the licence becomes your job. And the licence covers the song as it stands: changed lyrics, a translation or a reworked melody are an arrangement and need the authors' consent — where the line to a plain cover runs, the statute does not say. That holds for works in the repertoire; where a song is registered with no collecting society, you ask the rights holders yourselves.
Does the band join as a whole?
No. The GEMA contract is a contract of the individual person who writes — the composer, the lyricist. If you only play, you have nothing to settle with GEMA; your share in the recording goes through the GVL.
Where you can play
The tariff runs wherever you play. Our open directory lists venues where concerts happen regularly — with website and genre profile, checked and free.
The short version
At a booked concert the club pays; promote it yourselves and you pay — 5.75 percent of net ticket income plus 7 percent VAT, at least 30.40 euros up to 150 visitors and 60.80 up to 300, or 4.50 percent as a newcomer concert. Submit the setlist within 21 working days (the tariff sets that deadline; GEMA's page says six weeks), or the bill grows by 10 percent and your money lands elsewhere. Membership concerns only those who write, costs 50 euros a year, and the one-time admission fee of 107.10 euros is waived if you turn 30 or younger in the application year. Whether it pays off depends on how often your own repertoire plays in front of paying audiences.
Figures as of 2026-09-13, from the sources named below.
Sources
- GEMA Tarif U-K, edition 21, in force since 01.05.2026, sections I 1.1, I 1.2, I 2, II 2.1–2.3, II 2.5, II 5 and II 7 (concert rates, minimum fees, newcomer criteria, calculation basis, reporting deadlines, surcharge for a missing setlist, extended collective licence; edition checked 2026-09-13)
- gema.de, help page „Mitgliedsbeitrag“ (admission fee €90.00 net plus 19 % VAT = €107.10, annual fee €50.00, admission fee waived for creators turning 30 or younger in the application year, offsetting against payouts; retrieved 2026-09-13)
- gema.de, „Auch kostenlose Veranstaltungen melden Sie bei der GEMA an“, section „Ohne GEMA Repertoire. Aber mit Nachweis.“ (the promoter submits the complete setlist within six weeks, marked as GEMA-free; GEMA then checks it; retrieved 2026-09-13)
- gema.de, “Registering your concert with GEMA” and “Musikfolgennachberechnung” (the promoter registers and licenses the event, not the band; setlist no later than six weeks after the event, otherwise 10 % on top of the fee; retrieved 2026-09-13)
- § 42 Abs. 2 Satz 1 VGG (the promoter's duty to submit the list of works performed; gesetze-im-internet.de, retrieved 2026-09-13)
- § 23 Abs. 1 UrhG, Germany's copyright act (arrangements, a melody expressly included, only with the author's consent; gesetze-im-internet.de, retrieved 2026-09-13)
- BGH, judgment of 12.02.2015 – I ZR 204/13 „Trassenfieber“ (the organiser is whoever puts on the performance and carries the organisational and financial risk; retrieved 2026-09-13)
Updated: 2026-09-13
Note
This article provides general information. It is neither tax advice within the meaning of the German Tax Consultancy Act (StBerG) nor legal advice within the meaning of the Legal Services Act (RDG). No individual case is assessed here. For your tax situation please consult a tax adviser (Steuerberater); for legal questions, a lawyer.
Contribution rates, tariffs, levies and deadlines are adjusted regularly. Only the current publications of the competent bodies are authoritative — in particular GEMA, GVL, Künstlersozialkasse, Deutsche Rentenversicherung and the tax authorities. We prepare our content carefully but give no warranty as to accuracy, completeness or currency. Liability for intent and gross negligence, and for injury to life, body or health, remains unaffected.
Last reviewed: 13.09.2026
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