Christmas markets use Gema-free music
In order to avoid Gema fees, only Gema-free music will be played at the Potsdam Christmas market this year. "We bought the music years ago," said a spokesperson for AG Innenstadt on Wednesday. The titles had also been confirmed as Gema-free after consultation with the collecting society. An ensemble had arranged the recordings especially for the Christmas market.
Several organizers in the Mark had announced that, due to increased licensing fees, they would only play music for which Gema would not charge. The Christmas market in Brandenburg (Havel) is one of these markets. Anyone expecting more modern Christmas songs such as "Jingle Bells" or "Last Christmas" will be disappointed, announced the spokesperson for the AG Innenstadt. Instead, versions of "Stille Nacht", "Oh du Fröhliche" or "Oh Tannenbaum" will be played.
Several cities across Germany had complained about increased bills from the music collecting society Gema. According to Gema, around 35 cities were affected by significantly higher bills last year.
According to Gema, the tariffs and fees charged by the music collecting society have not changed in recent years. The entire event area is taken into account in the calculations. In the past, music was licensed on the basis of the usage areas reported by customers, according to Gema. However, after the coronavirus pandemic, some significant discrepancies were found when the area was re-measured. These are therefore not new tariffs, but a consistent application of the existing tariffs.
In Potsdam, the event area would correspond to Luisenplatz and Brandenburger Straße. "We would therefore probably have costs of around 20,000 euros," speculated the spokesperson for AG-Innenstadt.
Retail trade at the Potsdam Christmas market is not immune to the impact of Gema fees, as the AG Innenstadt spokesperson mentioned they had purchased their music years ago to avoid such charges. Despite the lack of modern holiday tunes like "Jingle Bells" or "Last Christmas", the market will feature Gema-free versions of traditional songs such as "Stille Nacht" and "Oh Tannenbaum" due to the high costs involved in licensing music from the retail trade sector during holidays.
Source: www.dpa.com
