Collecting societies organize and represent the exploitation rights of musical works on behalf of their affiliated members. Collecting societies in Germany are: GEMA (German Society for Musical Performing Rights and Mechanical Reproduction Rights) VG Wort (collecting society Wort), VG Bild (collecting society Bild), GVL (German Collecting Society for Performance Rights), VG Bild-Kunst (collecting society Bild-Kunst) and VG Musikedition (collecting society Musikedition).
GEMA represents and organizes the exploitation rights for musical works. The advantage for music creators is that they don't have to deal with these legal issues themselves. They also receive compensation for each public presentation of their music (such as playing their CD in a Bar). Before the bar owner is allowed to play the CD he or she has to fill out a GEMA registration and pay the according GEMA fees.
Royalty-free music does not require payments of such fees as the buyer receives the exploitation right directly from the producer on purchase. Find hundreds of Royalty-free pieces of music in our large Royalty-free music library. Please also check music production.
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