Something is not clear to me in the invoice. What can I do?

The quickest thing you can do might be to help yourself. Otherwise, please do get in touch.

a) Do you have questions on the price or the tariff? In that case, please use our price calculators for:

For music on sound recordings there is a tariff overview on our page Music fixation and reproduction onto (sound) carriers. There, you can select the appropriate tariff and check out a PDF with the corresponding licence fee rates.

You can also find all tariffs and prices under Tariffs & forms.

b) Are the costs possibly higher due to a GEMA audit? We regularly check on events and public venues. If music is played there, and we have not been notified about it in advance, additional payments and costs are due.

c) Have you calculated a different licence amount? In that case, you can have the invoice checked (see Check invoice).

d) Does the room or venue size in the invoice deviate from the real one? Please take into account that the costs for the space are usually calculated in 100-square-metre increments. You therefore pay

In the case of 80 square metres for: up to 100 square metres
In the case of 160 square metres for: up to 200 square metres

e) Are you unclear about why additional fees regarding the GEMA licence were charged and what the abbreviations stand for?

Due to the type of music playback, certain fees must be paid for additional rights such as for the Gesellschaft zur Verwertung von Leistungsschutzrechten (GVL) [Collective Management Organisation for the Management of Neighbouring Rights].

Example: If music is played back from a CD, this has been recorded by performing artists (musicians/singers) first. GVL protects this recording performance and manages the neighbouring rights (or related rights) for the performing artists (musicians/singers).

We are in charge of the collections for this on behalf of the other collective management organisations and then pass on the collected remuneration to them.

More details on our abbreviations are included on our infosheet.

f) Is this a compensation? That is the amount which is raised if you have already used music before you concluded a contract. This amount appears in the first invoice/the contract offer.

A compensation can arise on two occasions:

You notify us of your music use later.
Our customer service team determined in situ that there had been a music use beforehand.

The contract is therefore dated forward accordingly. You are paying the compensation for the period between that point in time until the actual contract start date. After all, you played back music even though you had not notified us of that beforehand.

g) Did you not receive a general agreement rebate? Please check whether your association or federation has notified us in time before the music use about you being a member of theirs. Only then can we grant a discount.

h) Do you wish to know whether you must submit a setlist or playlist? If you have not done so yet, you must submit a setlist in the case of a live music event, but not for sound recordings.

If we need to check whether the music is GEMA-free, we need a setlist as a rule. In order for us to check whether the music you played is GEMA-free, we require a complete list of the music titles including the names of the creators and composers with their real first names and family names. The names of the band or the artist of the title are not sufficient.

The quickest way for setlists (playlists) to reach us is if you submit them directly in the Online Portal in the area My setlist.

Is there anything else that is not clear to you in the invoice? In that case, please call us on +49 (0)30 1200210-53. Our customer service team is happy to help you.

Was this article helpful?