GEMA also asks daycare centers in some federal states to pay if they sing protected songs. A popular Christmas classic is also included.
Münster – From “Silent Night” to “O Tannenbaum” – Christmas songs are part of the Advent season. These classics are also sung diligently in daycare centers before Christmas. However, a daycare center in North Rhine-Westphalia is foregoing a popular classic this year – because of GEMA. This is because the daycare centers now charge fees when protected songs are performed at Christmas parties, for example. However, the decision was not made solely based on cost.
GEMA demands money from daycare centers – facility in North Rhine-Westphalia cancels Zuckowski’s “Christmas bakery”
GEMA charges 150 euros for the Advent celebration in kindergarten, according to a report by RTL. The fact that the “Bierenhöhle” daycare center in Recke decided not to sing Rolf Zuckowski’s “Christmas Bakery” is also due to the administrative effort involved. The chairman of the board, Björn Schmitz, explains: “It’s not really about the amount of the fee, but rather the bureaucratic effort behind it.”
Since North Rhine-Westphalia, in contrast to Bavaria, Hamburg and Baden-Württemberg, has not concluded a framework agreement with GEMA, each daycare center must individually conclude a contract with the collecting society or refrain from using copyrighted songs. The kindergarten in Recke has also taken this path. Only GEMA-free songs are sung there.
To have a celebration about that GEMA online portal To register, you must specify exactly how long the celebration lasts, how large the room is in which the celebration takes place and how many minutes of it will be spent without music. “I would have to register every song we sing in advance,” says daycare director Mechthild Ahrens to RTL. It is not possible to spontaneously start or play a song.
Daycare centers also pay annual fees to GEMA for copies of sheet music
But the daycare centers are not only asked to pay for performing the songs. Sheet music also costs the institutions money, which they have to pay to VG Musikedition. A flat rate contract for 500 copies per year costs 75 euros; for 1000 it's 150 euros, like one GEMA tariff sheet informed.
Although these amounts are not particularly high, they represent an additional financial burden. And here too, in addition to the financial outlay, there is also a significant amount of bureaucratic effort involved. Every year on the first of January, VG Musikedition must be notified of “a list of the copies made (track list).” This means that each copy must be carefully kept throughout the year.
GEMA ensures that its artists are paid for their music. For some, these royalties are a significant portion of their income. A kindergarten can hardly afford these fees and the associated administrative costs. The lack of understanding is certainly particularly great when it comes to a classic.
For a completely different reason, there was discussion in a daycare center in Austria about banning visits from Santa Claus. And also The GEMA fees have caused some problems at Christmas markets this year. (sp)
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