YouTube's Seven-Year Stand-off Ends (bbc.com)

YouTube has resolved a long-running dispute that prevented many of its clips being accessible in Germany. The Google-owned video service had been at odds with Gema - a German rights body representing musicians, composers and publishers - since 2009. From a report on BBC:The disagreement had affected clips in which the artists appeared as well as those that used their songs in the background. Payments will now be made, but neither side has disclosed the terms. Google's Content ID system means that clips flagged as containing Gema-protected tracks can now have adverts automatically added to them to recompense the songs' creators. And red banners that had prevented thousands of YouTube's clips from playing in Germany have now been removed as a consequence. "This is a win for music artists around the world, enabling them to reach new and existing fans in Germany... and for YouTube users in Germany, who will no longer see a blocking message on music content," blogged YouTube's head of international music partnerships, Christophe Muller.

Comments

GEMA is a german institution with a long tradition

[blkhawk]

GEMA is the only german institution that I can think of that managed to preserve all its initial values from its creation in 1933 to the present day.

"This is a win for music artists"

[wardrich86]

"This is a win for music artists" Sure... I think this is a win for the execs and the labels. I doubt the artists will see any of it.

Re:"This is a win for music artists"

[blkhawk]

AFAIK GEMA actually pays out directly to its member artists. The problem is how the money is distributed. There is a build-in weighting toward more "serious" music (Classical music). Also the Voting internally to GEMA depends on how much money you make through GEMA - that causes some gerrymandering-alike effects.

I'm not 100% up to date on them but the head of GEMA was a guy who wrote the lyrics for some 1960/70 Songs played traditionally during carneval and still got about a million in yearly fees in the early 2000nds. While its true that these songs are well known in Germany GEMA assigned them to a class of "Standard music" and thus they become more heavily weighted vs. other music.

Its not unusual for a small GEMA member artist or band to pay more in GEMA-fees for their own events than they get back at the end of the year.

Re:Both Gema and Youtube are at fault.

[Anonymous Coward]

That's not what's wrong with GEMA. Its legal status allows it to claim any music for their artists, unless you provide them with a list of the songs you play and prove that you have a license to play them. If there's one song on the list with an unclear status, you pay exactly as much as if you had been playing GEMA artists the whole time. Even if you only play 100% certain CC songs at a public event, GEMA will come after you. Don't have a complete playlist? Pay up. And yes, they do send people to check that you only play what's on your playlist.

Re:Both Gema and Youtube are at fault.

[GuB-42]

Sure but GEMA has a few things to make it even worse :
- If you play music from independent musicians, you have to prove that not a single one of them is affiliated to GEMA. If you fail to do it for even a single title, you pay full price. Guilty unless proven innocent.
- Artists affiliated to GEMA have to pay GEMA fees for playing their own music. They may get a refund in some conditions.
- GEMA is governed by its full members, and only the most financially successful artists can become full members, the others have no say. Unsurprisingly, full members also get the lion share of the benefits.

Re: GEMA is a german institution with a long tradi

[blkhawk]

To be fair I strongly implied it - However that was mostly sarcasm. GEMA as an construct is one of the most calcified and hidebound institutions i can think of. They sorta worked in their day but they were pretty much ready for a restructuring by 1970 or so. This restructuring did not happen.