German collecting society GEMA has published its financial results for 2022, and they show strong growth in its collections and distributions.
The society’s revenues grew by 13.4% to €1.18bn ($1.29bn at current exchange rates) last year. This isn’t just a record total: it also means that GEMA’s distributions have topped €1bn for the first time in its history.
The society paid out €1.01bn last year to its members, which is 85.7% of its collections. The revenues included €301.3m of online collections, up 25.5% year-on-year.
GEMA boss Dr. Harald Heker issued a warning in his comments on the results, however.
“Besides the [post-lockdowns] revival of the event sector, online revenues also developed dynamically upwards. This was due in part to general market development and re-licensing of old periods, but also in particular to successful contract negotiations for music streaming,” he said.
“Audio streaming continues to be the fastest growing music industry segment. However, authors are still harmed by considerable imbalances in the distribution of revenues… “The trend towards streaming must not lead to authors’ rights being undermined.”
Heker cited GEMA’s recently-commissioned study of the streaming economy as evidence. It found that 89% of music creators surveyed saw the remuneration they get from streaming as ‘inadequate’.
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