Category German law

German Music Law with key legal cases

By in Adaptation Rights, artist agreement, collecting societies, collective rights management systems, composition right, Composition Rights, copyright infringement, copyright law, cross-border digital music rights, Distribution Rights, Equitable Remuneration, Exploitation Rights, GEMA, German Copyright Act (UrhG), German law, GVL, Lyric Rights, music law, Music Rights, Performance Rights, Related Rights, Reproduction Rights, SUISA, Synchronization Rights Tag , , , , , , , , , , ,

German music law is a complex field that encompasses various legal areas, including copyright law, contract law, and competition law. The primary legal framework for music rights in Germany is the German Copyright Act (Urheberrechtsgesetz, UrhG), which protects the rights of composers, lyricists, performers, and other creators in the music industry. Below is a comprehensive explanation of German music law, the relevant collecting societies, and key legal cases.

1. Copyright Protection in Music

Under the German Copyright Act, musical works are protected as intellectual property. This protection includes:

  • Composition Rights: The melody, harmony, and structure of a musical work are protected.
  • Lyric Rights: The text of a song is protected as a literary work.
  • Related Rights (Leistungsschutzrechte): Performers, producers, and broadcasters have rights related to their contributions (e.g., a recording artist’s performance or a record label’s production).

Copyright protection lasts for 70 years after the death of the creator (for compositions and lyrics) or 70 years after publication (for sound recordings).

2. Exploitation Rights

Copyright holders have exclusive rights to control how their works are used. These include:

  • Reproduction Rights: Copying or recording music.
  • Distribution Rights: Selling or distributing physical or digital copies.
  • Performance Rights: Public performances, including live concerts, radio, and streaming.
  • Synchronization Rights: Using music in films, advertisements, or video games.
  • Adaptation Rights: Creating derivative works, such as remixes or translations.

3. Collecting Societies (Verwertungsgesellschaften)

In Germany, collecting societies manage the rights of creators and ensure they receive royalties for the use of their works. The main collecting societies in the music industry are:

a) GEMA (Gesellschaft für musikalische Aufführungs- und mechanische Vervielfältigungsrechte)

  • Represents composers, lyricists, and publishers.
  • Manages performance rights, mechanical rights, and synchronization rights.
  • Example: GEMA collects royalties when a song is played on the radio, performed live, or streamed online.

b) GVL (Gesellschaft zur Verwertung von Leistungsschutzrechten)

  • Represents performers and producers.
  • Manages rights related to sound recordings and broadcasts.
  • Example: GVL collects royalties for the use of recorded music on streaming platforms or in public spaces.

c) SUISA (Swiss Society for the Rights of Authors of Musical Works)

  • Although based in Switzerland, SUISA collaborates with GEMA for cross-border rights management.

4. Key Legal Concepts

a) Equitable Remuneration (Angemessene Vergütung)

  • Copyright holders are entitled to fair compensation for the use of their works.
  • Example: Streaming platforms must pay royalties to artists and rights holders.

b) Extended Collective Licensing (Erweiterte Kollektivlizenz)

  • Allows collecting societies to license works on behalf of all rights holders, even non-members.
  • Example: GEMA can license music for public performances without individual agreements.

c) Private Copying Levy (Privatkopieabgabe)

  • A levy on blank media and recording devices to compensate rights holders for private copying.
  • Example: A fee is added to the price of blank CDs or USB sticks.

5. Landmark Legal Cases

a) Case: “Metall auf Metall” (BGH, I ZR 112/06)

  • Issue: Sampling without permission.
  • Ruling: The Federal Court of Justice (BGH) held that sampling a sound recording requires the consent of the rights holder.
  • Significance: Established that sound recordings are protected under related rights, and unauthorized sampling constitutes copyright infringement.

b) Case: “Reha Training” (CJEU, C-117/15)

  • Issue: Whether a rehabilitation center playing music publicly requires a license.
  • Ruling: The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) ruled that any communication of music to a public audience requires a license.
  • Significance: Clarified the scope of public performance rights under EU copyright law.

c) Case: “YouTube vs. GEMA” (LG München I, 33 O 27581/12)

  • Issue: Royalty rates for streaming music on YouTube.
  • Ruling: The court ruled in favor of GEMA, stating that YouTube must pay higher royalties for streaming music in Germany.
  • Significance: Highlighted the tension between digital platforms and collecting societies over royalty rates.

d) Case: “Sampling Case” (BGH, I ZR 115/16)

  • Issue: Use of a two-second music sample.
  • Ruling: The BGH ruled that even minimal sampling requires permission if the sample is recognizable.
  • Significance: Reinforced the strict protection of sound recordings under German law.

6. Challenges and Developments

  • Digitalization: The rise of streaming platforms has led to disputes over royalty rates and licensing models.
  • EU Copyright Directive: The implementation of the EU Copyright Directive (2019/790) has introduced new rules for online content sharing and fair remuneration.
  • Transparency: Collecting societies face criticism for lack of transparency in royalty distribution.

7. Conclusion

German music law provides robust protection for creators and rights holders, with collecting societies like GEMA and GVL playing a central role in managing rights and collecting royalties. However, the evolving digital landscape and cross-border issues continue to pose challenges for the music industry. Legal cases such as “Metall auf Metall” and “YouTube vs. GEMA” have shaped the interpretation and enforcement of music rights in Germany.

Recent Developments in Music Law in Germany, Europe, and Internationally

By in AI, AI in Music Production, AI-Generated Music, Article 17 of the DSM Directive, Automated Licensing Systems, Berne Convention, Blockchain, collecting societies, collective rights management systems, Contract Drafting, copyright law, cross-border digital music rights, EU Artificial Intelligence Act, EU Copyright Directive, European Licensing Hub, Fair Compensation, GEMA, German Copyright Act (UrhG), German law, Global Music Streams, intellectual property law, Legal Advice, Live Music, mandatory minimum payouts, Mandatory revenue-sharing model, Metaverse, music law, music production, Music Rights, NFTs, Non-Fungible Tokens, Rights Enforcement, Streaming, Sustainability, user-generated content (UGC), Virtual Concerts, WIPO Tag , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

1. Germany

  1. Implementation of the EU Copyright Directive (DSM Directive):
    • Key Changes:
      • Article 17 of the DSM Directive: Platforms like YouTube are directly liable for copyrighted content uploaded by users unless they meet specific requirements, such as obtaining licenses or implementing effective content filtering technologies.
      • Introduction of exceptions for user-generated content (UGC), such as parodies, critiques, and quotes, provided the use is non-commercial.
    • Practical Impact:
      • Platforms are investing in upload filters and licensing models.
      • Artists benefit from stronger negotiating positions with platforms.
  2. Strengthening Rights for Artists and Composers:
    • Amendments to the German Copyright Act (UrhG) require licensees to provide transparent accounting and ensure fair remuneration for creators.
  3. Copyright for AI-Generated Music:
    • There is an ongoing debate in Germany about whether and how AI-generated music can be protected. Protection depends on whether human contribution exists or whether AI tools are considered merely auxiliary.

2. European Union

  1. Harmonization of Music Rights:
    • The EU is working on connecting collecting societies like GEMA in Germany to simplify licensing across Europe.
    • Introduction of a European Licensing Hub for cross-border digital music rights.
  2. Regulation of AI in Music Production:
    • The proposed EU Artificial Intelligence Act could set standards for AI systems in music production, including transparency and liability requirements.
  3. Fair Contracts for Live Music and Streaming:
    • New EU rules aim to create fairer compensation for musicians in live performances and streaming. This includes mandatory minimum payouts for streaming services.

3. International

  1. WIPO Negotiations (World Intellectual Property Organization):
    • The WIPO is discussing global standards for managing AI-generated music, focusing on copyright and licensing.
    • Adjustments to international treaties like the Berne Convention are being considered to address new technologies and digital use.
  2. Compensation for Global Music Streams:
    • Efforts are underway to establish international standards for compensating artists and creators for global music streams, particularly through reforms to collective rights management systems.
  3. NFTs and Music Rights:
    • Globally, legal frameworks are being developed for music-related NFTs (Non-Fungible Tokens), addressing how they intersect with copyright law and whether they represent licenses or ownership transfers.

Future Developments in Music Law

  1. Digitalization and Artificial Intelligence:
    • With the growing use of AI in music production, new regulations may emerge to establish clear protection mechanisms for AI-generated works.
    • Automated Licensing Systems: Blockchain technologies may automate rights management and licensing globally.
  2. Streaming and Fair Compensation:
    • Discussions about fair revenue distribution from streaming will intensify. Mandatory revenue-sharing models could be introduced to directly benefit artists.
  3. International Harmonization:
    • Countries may increasingly work toward unified standards for digital music rights, offering global creators better protection and minimizing legal uncertainties.
  4. Metaverse and New Music Applications:
    • As the metaverse grows, questions will arise about how music is protected and licensed in virtual worlds.
    • Virtual Concerts and Interactivity: Music law must adapt to hybrid models of physical and digital performances.
  5. Sustainability in the Music Industry:
    • Future copyright provisions may also address the carbon footprint of music production and distribution.

Challenges and Roles for Music Law Experts:

  1. Legal Advice:
    • Advising artists and platforms on new liability and licensing requirements.
  2. AI and Technology:
    • Developing new legal frameworks for AI-generated music and automated rights management.
  3. Contract Drafting:
    • Negotiating contracts for streaming, NFTs, and virtual concerts.
  4. International Collaboration:
    • Supporting cross-border licensing and adapting to international standards.
  5. Rights Enforcement:
    • Assisting creators in enforcing their claims, particularly in the digital space.

Music law will continue evolving to address technological and societal changes. The increasing digitalization, the rise of AI, and the globalization of the music industry are among the most significant challenges and opportunities shaping its future.

Transferability of music copyright

By in Acquisition of music rights, acquisition of rights in good faith, artist agreement, artist insurance, Band Take Over Agreement, composition right, copyright infringement, copyright law, GEMA, German law, Horak Attorneys at Law - Music Law, intellectual property law, music law, pirate copy, sampling Tag , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Generally speaking, copyrights are not so easy to transfer or to sell: A composer cannot just decide to transfer the copyright of a musical work as such. This is also not possible by means of a contract. However, it is possible to grant others a right to use the work. To do this, a licence agreement is strictly necessary. This must contain the most important information about the scope of use and the remuneration.

German copyright law lasts until 70 years after the death of the author. This means that as long as the composer is alive, the copyright is his and his alone. After his death, it passes to his heirs for a total of 70 years. Only then is it considered “in the public domain”. Then anyone may perform the piece of music in public without permission or remuneration.

Do you have any other question? Make sure to fill out our contact form and we will be glad to help you!

 

Warning because of a copyright infringement

By in Acquisition of music rights, acquisition of rights in good faith, artist agreement, artist insurance, Band Take Over Agreement, bootleg, composition right, copyright infringement, copyright law, GEMA, German law, Horak Attorneys at Law - Music Law Tag , , , , ,

Copyright infringement? Warning!

If a piece of music is distributed, reproduced, performed or downloaded without the permission of the author, this constitutes a copyright infringement. Composers can issue a warning with the help of a lawyer and demand a cease-and-desist declaration and damages.

However, it is always recommended to contact a specialist in order to let your work of music analyzed and your legal chances proved.

 

When is your copyright infringed? What does copyright means?

For all these questions, you can contact horak. Attorneys-at-law: your legal team for music law in Germany. 

What do we have to offer? Music Law Attorneys

By in Acquisition of music rights, acquisition of rights in good faith, artist agreement, artist insurance, Band Take Over Agreement, bootleg, composition right, copyright infringement, copyright law, GEMA, German law, Horak Attorneys at Law - Music Law, intellectual property law, music law Tag , , , , , , , ,

Music Law: What do we have to offer?

We advise artists, musicians, composers, lyricists, producers as well as media, publishing, production and distribution companies of all sizes in all matters of national and international music law. Nonetheless, we are specialist lawyers for copyright and media law.

Our music law focus also includes the following services:

  • Drafting and reviewing of contracts

Licence agreements, remuneration agreements as well as publishing agreements, edition agreements and publishing administration agreements including the drafting of contracts for the production of sound, film and data carriers

  • General media law

including publishing law, press law, internet law, music law, film law, television law and event law as well as contract drafting for film and television productions (script contracts, exploitation contracts, production agreements etc), media employment law

Management contracts, agency contracts, consultancy contracts and promotion contracts; media cooperation contracts and merchandising contracts

  • Technical protection measures

such as access control systems and copy protection systems, in particular copy protection for audio CDs, DVDs as well as film and multimedia DVDs, Blue Ray and other data carriers or cloud systems

  • Negotiations

for authors with production and distribution companies or support for the production and distribution companies

 

  • Copyright examinations

and evaluations, in particular in the sub-areas of design and art, as well as in the case of linguistic works, audio works & visual works

  • Rights examination, rights protection, rights enforcement

National and international rights management

  • Usage audits

Judicial and arbitral enforcement of all kinds of copyright claims, also in preliminary injunction proceedings and in international legal relations. Music law litigation and disputes

We are your legal team for music law located in the city center of Hannover. We are modern, flexible and have experience. Send us an email. We will get back to you. 

Composers’ rights – German Law

By in Acquisition of music rights, acquisition of rights in good faith, artist agreement, artist insurance, Band Take Over Agreement, bootleg, composition right, GEMA, German law, Horak Attorneys at Law - Music Law, intellectual property law, license rate, music law Tag , , , , , , , , ,

Is the copyright of musicians transferable?

A composer can NOT transfer the copyright of a musical work. This is also not possible by means of a contract. However, it is possible to grant others a right to use the work for particular agreed purpose. In order to do this, a licence agreement must be concluded. This latter contains the most important information about the scope of use and the remuneration.

German copyright law applies until 70 years after the death of the author. This means that as long as the composer is alive, the copyright is in its hands. After his/her death, it passes to his heirs for a total of 70 years. Only then is it considered “in the public domain”. Then anyone may perform the piece of music in public without permission or remuneration.

Attention: If publishers, record companies or performing musicians have acquired a right of exploitation beforehand, this right continues to exist!

Do you have any other questions according to this topic? Make sure to send us an e-mail. Law is our passion. Law is what we care about. Contact us. 

Plagiarism: Must Knows

By in Acquisition of music rights, acquisition of rights in good faith, artist agreement, artist insurance, Band Take Over Agreement, composition right, copyright infringement, copyright law, GEMA, German law, Horak Attorneys at Law - Music Law, intellectual property law, license rate, music law Tag , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Plagiarism: are cover and remixes plagiarisms? Do you need a special license to publish your cover?

If a musician wants to publish the work of another in his own interpretation or in edited form, he usually has to acquire the necessary rights first:

Cover version

A cover is a new edition of a piece of music. If lyrics and melody remain the same, musicians have to pay royalties. It does not matter if other instruments are used or if the melody is sung in a different voice pitch than in the original.

Editing

In the case of extensive changes to the melody and/or lyrics of the piece of music and if the original work is still clearly recognizable, the consent of the composer is required and a license agreement must be signed.

Remix

In a remix, the song is remixed or given new instrumentation.  Here, too, the following applies: If the original work is still recognizable, usage rights must be acquired.

Free use

If a piece of music is changed in such a way that it is hardly recognizable, it may be used without the consent of the author. This is called “free use”. In practice, however, there is hardly any free use of musical works.

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    Easy Explained: YouTube and “Unfortunately, this video is not available in Germany”

    By in Acquisition of music rights, acquisition of rights in good faith, artist agreement, artist insurance, Band Take Over Agreement, bootleg, copyright infringement, GEMA, German law, Horak Attorneys at Law - Music Law, intellectual property law, music law Tag , , , , , , , , , ,

    “Unfortunately, this video is not available in Germany.”

    For German internet users, many a visit to YouTube ends in frustration. But why?

    For years, German YouTube users have often been presented with a terse notice that the desired video is not available.Google, as the owner and operator of YouTube, on the one hand, and GEMA, as the collecting society, on the other, simply could not agree on how much to pay per song played on the Internet.

    Records explain that Google wants to pay much less than GEMA would recognize as fair. On Friday the 20th April 2012, the Hamburg Regional Court ruled that the Internet portal YouTube may no longer put videos online for which GEMA, as the collecting society, claims copyright. In seven out of twelve cases, the court followed GEMA’s request.

    Specifically, the GEMA demands from YouTube that the platform operator check before publishing a video whether the clip contains music subject to licensing. YouTube categorically rejects this – it is not technically feasible. Every minute, YouTube users upload over 60 hours of videos. Users like to ignore the fact that there is a copyright law that cannot simply be undermined and that many artists do not want to do without remuneration.

    The GEMA or YouTube Disputes are no news to us. Do you have any queries about this topic? Make sure to contact us. 

    Horak. Attorneys-at-law : Your supporters in all copyright, media and music law matters.

     

    Three Things To Know About Music Law

    By in Band Take Over Agreement, bootleg, composition right, copyright infringement, copyright law, GEMA, German law, Horak Attorneys at Law - Music Law, intellectual property law, license rate, music law, pirate copy, sampling Tag , , , , , , ,

    Three Things To Know About Music Law

    1. With the triumph of digital data carriers and the internet, the term “music piracy” is on everyone’s lips in music law. Music law contains an accumulation of regulations to combat and preventively curb the illegal distribution or illegal production of copies of copyrighted musical works. The limits of the said regulations are also found in copyright law, for example in the form of legal private copying from a source that is not obviously illegal, as defined in Section 53(1) UrhG.
    2. However, violations of personal rights in music law are also particularly relevant in practice. In particular, musical works may contain socially critical lyrics as well as insulting or discriminatory content. In such cases, a collision of personal rights and the fundamental right of artistic freedom is regularly at the centre, whereby music law affects public law.
    3. Furthermore, collecting societies play a massive role in the field of music law. Among the largest are the Gesellschaft für musikalische Aufführungs- und mechanische Vervielfältigungsrechte (GEMA) and the Gesellschaft zur Verwertung von Leistungsschutzrechten (GVL), which primarily look after the financial interests of the respective artists.

     

    We are international music and copyright ale experts. Book your appointment now – we will get back to you very soon.

    Sampling: definition and legal position

    By in Acquisition of music rights, acquisition of rights in good faith, artist agreement, artist insurance, German law, Horak Attorneys at Law - Music Law, intellectual property law, music law, sampling Tag , , , , , , , ,

    Is sampling music legal?

    When a musician samples, he takes fragments from other people’s songs. Does he thereby violate copyright or is that freedom of art? The BGH has decided. Here an overview of the legal dispute from an article of the German https://www.tagesschau.de/inland/bgh-urheberrecht-101.html). In music, sampling refers to the process of using a part of an – already finished – sound or music recording in a new, often musical context. Nowadays, this is usually done with a hardware or software sampler, i.e., the selected sound sample is usually digitized and stored so that it can be further processed with audio programs.

    Why have they been arguing about this in court for years? A german rapper, singer and music producer thinks to this day that he was allowed to simply take the “music snippet” into his song. Legally, the issue is the conflict between artistic freedom and the rights one has as a producer of a sound carrier. These are the so-called copyrights and ancillary copyrights: “The author of a sound record has the exclusive right to reproduce, distribute and make the sound carrier available to the public,” the Copyright Act states.

    What can we now expect from the BGH’s ruling? With its decision, the BGH must implement the guidelines of the ECJ judges. After hearing the case in January, it does not look like the judges in Karlsruhe will simply “wave through” the rapper´s sampling. So the question remains whether the artistic sound sequence in the song is recognizable or not. To have this clarified, the BGH could refer the case back to the Hamburg Higher Regional Court. If Pelham loses, the case could even go back to the Federal Constitutional Court. After all, he won there in 2016. Either way, the principles laid down by the courts affect the hip-hop and music scene as a whole.

    Musician, artists, writers: you know who to call. Horak Attorneys at law: your international law firm for music law.