German Nightclubs Agree Music Fees With Gema

Following closure fears in 2012, German nightclubs have thankfully reached an agreement with performers' rights organisation GEMA over the amount of fees they have to pay to play songs.

Although no exact figure has been revealed, it is believed that long-term increases will fall somewhere in between 29% and 64% with the "moderate" fees coming in over a number of years according to Ernst Fischer, the head of the German Association of Music Event Organisers.

GEMA, which has existed since 1903, is one of the largest performers' rights organizations in the world. Under German law, it is entitled to collect fees for all use of copyright-protected music wherever it is played, everywhere from retirement homes to "erotic film booths." The organization's intent is to make sure the originators of a piece of music are compensated for their work, a task which, it argues, has become increasingly difficult in an era of widespread online piracy.

GEMA, a group that charges fees for the public use of music on behalf of artists, threatened a huge increase at the beginning of the year, with the owner of Berlin venue Watergate (pictured) claiming the proposed fees would have seen them paying €140,000 per year instead of €10,000.

The new fees will come into place on January 1, 2014.