Silent Christmas markets: when music becomes too expensive

Customs - Silent Christmas markets: when music becomes too expensive

Catchy tunes such as "Last Christmas" or "All I Want For Christmas Is You" are unlikely to be played while strolling through many German Christmas markets this year. This is because Christmas market operators are complaining about what they see as high music bills from the Gesellschaft für musikalische Aufführungs- und mechanische Vervielfältigungsrechte (Gema).

As a protest, many markets will therefore remain completely silent on Monday. Some also want to switch completely to royalty-free music. Gema rejects the accusations.

Many Christmas market operators are complaining about an increase in the cost of music usage rights. According to Gema, it has sent around 3,350 invoices to Christmas market operators across Germany for 2022. In around 167 cases, there were price increases - in 35 cases even in the five-digit range.

40 times as expensive

Including, for example, the Christmas market in Frankfurt. According to the organizers, payments for the use of Christmas music have risen from 1,000 to 40,000 euros since 2019. Or in Braunschweig, where Gema charges around 18,000 euros more according to the city marketing department. As a result, choirs are no longer allowed to perform there.

In Saxony, several cities have joined forces to launch a petition against the alleged price increase. The operators in Potsdam are taking strict action: There will only be Gema-free music there this year.

As an authors' society, Gema represents the copyrights of over 90,000 rights holders in Germany, such as composers, lyricists and music publishers, as well as over two million rights holders worldwide. It distributes the income to them when copyrighted songs are played. In contrast, songs whose authors have been dead for at least 70 years are royalty-free.

Size is the decisive factor

At first glance, the cost increase seems strange. After all, the tariff is not new; the collecting society has been calculating the costs for the entire sound reinforcement with music in the same way since 2011 - namely based on the size of the entire event area.

"Measurements must be taken from wall to wall, from the first to the last stand", according to a statement published by Gema on Thursday. Broken down, this means that the larger the area covered by sound, the higher the license costs. The music at the individual stands is not affected by the dispute. The showmen conclude their own contracts with Gema for the music played there.

So have the costs risen because many Christmas markets have become larger? That could be a possibility, Gema spokeswoman Ursula Goebel told the German Press Agency. Many markets have grown in recent years and opening hours have often been extended. However, Gema believes there is another main reason.

False information and lack of control

"We know that individual Christmas markets have provided false information. Some large, high-turnover markets have reported areas that are clearly too small," explains Gema board member Georg Oeller. Gema had not checked the total area of the markets until 2022, but had relied on the conscientious and correct registration of the Christmas market operators in previous years.

"However, last year we carried out random checks and realized that this was not the case," says Goebel. Some Christmas market operators had probably turned a blind eye. "I don't want to accuse everyone of deliberate action, but there are certainly some who have registered the wrong areas in previous years or simply didn't know," says the spokesperson.

Basically, the music is not expensive. According to Gema, 2.5 cents are deducted from the income per visit for music - on average, each visitor leaves around 18 euros. "No Christmas market has to do without music just because this music is licensed by Gema," says Oeller.

Agreements are being sought

The German Association of Cities has reacted to the situation and sought talks with the collecting society. "We have been promised that Gema will approach the cities with significantly higher bills in order to find solutions," says the German Association of Cities. According to information from MDR, Leipzig has already been granted a 50 percent discount on the additional costs.

The Gema board is critical of the work of the Association of German Cities. "With regard to the Christmas markets, the association has obviously not sufficiently fulfilled its task of providing even clearer information about the application of the tariff," says Oeller.

The Bundesvereinigung City- und Stadtmarketing Deutschland is also in negotiations with Gema, according to its own information. From the point of view of the federal association, there are two issues at stake: On the one hand, there needs to be better definitions for Gema's various tariffs and, on the other, there should be a discussion about whether the current tariff models are even appropriate for city festivals.

"Day of silence" planned

In protest, the Christmas markets in Hanover, Leipzig, Dresden, Erfurt, Magdeburg, Rostock, Quedlinburg and Goslar are to remain completely silent on Monday. On the so-called "Day of Silence", it will probably not be possible to sing along to Christmas classics with a mulled wine in your hand.