Collecting Society Musikedition

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The collecting society Music Edition is a collecting society an economic association by charter. Like all German collecting societies, it is subject to the supervision and control of the German Patent and Trademark Office , the Federal Ministry of Justice and the Federal Cartel Office . The VG Musikedition does not make any profits of its own; rather, it distributes all income to its members after deducting its administrative costs (6.6% in the 2013 financial year).

The 1886 (as of December 31, 2017) full and affiliated members of VG Musikedition are publishers, composers, lyricists and academic editors. VG Musikedition itself is a partner in the 'Central Office for Photocopying in Schools' (ZFS) and the Central Office for Library Royalty (ZBT).

The office of VG Musikedition is in Kassel . Christian Krauss has been the managing director since 2002 , and Sebastian Mohr (Breitkopf & Härtel, Wiesbaden) has been the president since 2018. Members of the administrative board as a supervisory body are Thomas Sertl (Schott Music, Mainz), Friedemann M. Strube (Strube, Munich), the songwriter Wolfgang Hering and the musicologist Gabriele Buschmeier ( Academy of Sciences and Literature , Mainz ).

history

The VG Musikedition was founded on March 1, 1966 as the "Interest Group for Musicological Editors and Publishers" (IMHV). founded. It refers to the Copyright Act ( UrhG ) and the Copyright Administration Act ( UrhWG ). The copyright reform in 1965 made it possible for the first time to protect scientific editions.

Since a structural reform in 2005 it has been called "VG Musikedition - Verwertungsgesellschaft - Legally Capable Association by virtue of awarding", since the focus of the VG Musikedition's activities has changed over the years, particularly with regard to the exercise of numerous graphic reproduction rights and statutory remuneration claims.

Protection organization

The VG Musikedition is a fiduciary protection organization for creative people. According to the EU Commission, collecting societies represent a counterbalance to the market power of the users of the works (" GEMA decision"). Work users are u. a. Broadcasting, television, major companies, churches, public institutions and online providers. The EU Commission speaks here of the "cultural compatibility clause" (economic contract - cultural compatibility).

Making photocopies of musical works

The greatest economic importance for VG Musikedition is now the licensing of exemptions from the ban on photocopying sheet music. According to § 53 Abs. 4 UrhG there is no right to private copying of sheet music if the musical works themselves are still subject to copyright. Exceptions to this, which the legislator has provided, do not in fact play a role in reality. On behalf of the publishers and authors, the VG Musikedition has concluded contracts with the Conference of Ministers of Education and Cultural Affairs that allow photocopying for teaching at general schools (schools within the meaning of the school laws). There are also contracts with both large churches as well as well over a thousand free church congregations and associations that allow them to produce and use copies (copies, foils, projectors) for church use. Since September 2008, music schools and kindergartens have also had the opportunity to produce and use limited copies of copies after concluding a license agreement with VG Musikedition. The license fee is € 56 per year for up to 500 copies, for church and municipal kindergartens € 44.80. The same now also applies to adult education centers and other institutions for adult education as well as training and further education and for retirement homes. As a rule, no copies may be made for choirs, orchestras, instrumental ensembles, etc. However, this also only applies to sheet music from musical works that are still subject to copyright - and which are also not adaptations that are just as subject to copyright as original compositions up to 70 years after the editor's death. In addition, scientific editions or Editiones Principes (first editions) are subject to their own copyright (see below ). However, this ends 25 years after the issue was published. If all deadlines have expired, grades can in principle also be copied (see also legal protection of music images ). Numerous classic editions that are still in circulation today are reprints of old editions. These reprints are also no longer subject to the prohibition on copying. Even adding a new copyright notice with the year of the new edition does not extend the term of protection (see Copyfraud ) as long as it is the same work and stitch pattern.

License agreements for copying (duplicating) notes can also be concluded by institutions of adult education, training and further education, care for the elderly and welfare and other therapeutic and care institutions.

Scientific editions and Editiones principes

In addition, VG Musikedition exercises the rights of use for the editions and works protected under Section 70 UrhG ( Protection of Scientific Editions ) and Section 71 UrhG ( editio princeps ). These primarily include performance rights, broadcasting rights, the right to make them publicly available and mechanical reproduction and distribution rights.

Since case law and relevant commentary literature are very sparse, the VG Musikedition has set up detailed criteria for the protectability of works and editions according to §§ 70/71 UrhG in the past few years, which are presented below briefly and without any claim to completeness.

A scientific-critical edition according to Section 70 UrhG exists, for example, if the edition is based on an extensive source review and evaluation, if the source situation, the edition principles and the edition decisions are documented in a so-called critical report or revision report, or if the musical text is typographically differentiated, i.e. then if z. B. Editor's additions are indicated by brackets or the like. In addition, the legislature stipulates that the edition must differ significantly from previous editions. An essential distinction is made when individual differences are musically and substantially ascertainable and also audible, but at least visually perceptible. To be mentioned here are u. a. New performance names, the reconstruction of missing parts of a work, changing and adding notes, different dynamics, articulation, agogic or tone duration.

Whether an edition meets the criteria for protection is checked by the VG Musikedition's works committee, which consists of musicologists. When asked about the protectability according to According to § 71 UrhG, it is necessary to check whether the registered work has not yet appeared - neither in the form of a print edition nor as a sound carrier. Facsimile reproductions, old printed parts, prints in tablature or mensural notation are to be understood as print editions. Handwritten scores or parts are deemed to have been published if these materials have been produced in sufficient numbers (within the meaning of Section 6 (2) UrhG). Since the amendment to the Copyright Act of July 1, 1995 (based on an EU directive), protection according to § 71 UrhG can also be achieved through the variant of the "first public reproduction". In this case, however, the work must never have been performed publicly before, not even 200 or 300 years ago.

Reproduction of works of music in collections

VG Musikedition also accepts the remuneration claims from § 46 Paragraph 4 UrhG and § 60b UrhG. These allow the reproduction of still protected works of music in collections for religious or educational use, which does not require a license but is subject to remuneration. Music lessons at music schools are not privileged within the meaning of Section 60b UrhG.

Music in worship

Since 2008, the VG Musikedition has also exercised the rights for so-called music in church services, but only in relation to free church communities. Congregations that perform protected works in church services or play them back in public, including by means of sound carriers, receive a usage license in accordance with the GEMA tariff WR K-2. For free churches that are members of the VEF (Association of Evangelical Free Churches), there is a corresponding framework agreement with GEMA (brokered by the EKD ), which includes the approval for the public reproduction of works from the GEMA repertoire in church services and events similar to church services and which applies as a flat rate .

Copying grades in kindergartens

In January 2011, GEMA sent a letter to 36,000 kindergartens on behalf of VG Musikedition, in which the kindergartens were offered an offer to make up to 500 copies of copyrighted sheet music and song texts for a flat fee of 56 euros. In addition, if the kindergartens make copies of works that are protected by copyright, they should be obliged to compile precise lists of the songs used. According to a statement by GEMA, facts were presented differently in the media at this point. In particular, it has been falsely claimed by many media outlets that singing in kindergartens has to be paid for. However, it is correct that according to According to Section 53 (4) UrhG, permission is only required for the reproduction of sheet music and lyrics. In Bavaria, the dispute was settled by signing a flat-rate contract in the amount of 290,000 euros, which must be settled from the municipal budgets. Other federal states are also negotiating such contracts. Another flat-rate contract is now in place with the state of Baden-Württemberg.

Further tasks of the VG Musikedition

Finally, VG Musikedition assumes, among other things, the statutory remuneration claims according to § 45a , §§ 60a ff UrhG and § 137l Paragraph 5 UrhG as well as the rights to out-of-print works.

distribution

The evaluation of the use of the VG Musikedition repertoire and the distribution of the income are carried out on the one hand through regular, detailed surveys that are carried out together with the users of the work, on the other hand it is in the interests of the rights holders to report the use of works by VG Musikedition. In some areas of responsibility, the distribution of the income to the rights holders takes place by means of net individual accounting. The individual distribution modalities are determined by the members of the VG Musikedition themselves and are based on the provisions of the VGG.

Reciprocity agreements

Due to reciprocity agreements with foreign sister companies, VG Musikedition can also license the repertoire of many authors from other countries. Such bilateral agreements exist with collecting societies in Austria, Switzerland, Denmark, Norway, Finland, Iceland, Belgium, Spain, France, Luxembourg and Hong Kong.

Cultural fund

Funding by the Kulturfonds primarily includes financial support for academic work insofar as it relates to the area of ​​work of VG Musikedition, in particular the development of sources and documents, as well as the financing of sheet music, provided that the works contained therein have not yet been or are insufficient were edited. The culture fund is part of the culture mandate that collecting societies fulfill. The Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Kulturfonds is Michael Kube, a member of the editorial board of the Neue Schubert Edition. Further members of the board of trustees are Stefanie Clement (Musikverlag Hofmeister) and Julia Ronge (Beethovenhaus Bonn).

VG Musikedition is also a member and at the same time a sponsor of the German Music Council. For example, she supported the German Music Council's congress on church music (Unity through diversity. Church makes music) from October 14th to 17th, 2010 in Berlin.

literature

  • Christian Krauss, Thomas Tietze: Copyright protection for scientific editions and first editions. VG Musikedition, Kassel 2008.
  • Christian Krauss: No more illegal copying. The VG Musikedition offers new license agreements for music schools. In: practicing and making music 2/2009, ISSN  0174-6065 , p. 48 ( online ).
  • Christian Krauss: (K) A book with seven seals! GEMA, VG Musikedition, photocopying sheet music ... , in: Musica sacra 3/2010, p. 154 ff.
  • Heinz Stroh: The legal protection of sheet music from unauthorized duplication. Berlin-Verlag, Berlin 1995, ISBN 3-87061-451-X .
  • Heinz Stroh: The protection of inherited works according to § 71 UrhG. In: Festschrift for Wilhelm Nordemann. Nomos, Baden-Baden 1999, ISBN 3-7890-6024-0 , pp. 269-283.
  • Thomas Tietze: VG Musikedition. In: R. Moser, A. Scheuermann (Hrsg.): Handbuch der Musikwirtschaft. 6th edition. Keller, Starnberg a. Munich 2003, ISBN 3-7808-0188-4 , pp. 715-728.
  • Thomas Tietze: perpetrator in tails. Photocopying sheet music is no trivial offense. VG Musikedition, Kassel 2009 ( online : PDF; 1.5 MB).
  • VG Musikedition / EKD: Copyright in the community. Guidelines for daily practice , Kassel, Hannover 2009.
  • VG Musikedition / VDD: Copyright in the municipality. Guidelines for daily practice , Kassel, Bonn 2009.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Successful business year 2012 for VG Musikedition. Press release of March 14, 2013, accessed on March 15, 2013
  2. ↑ Transparency report 2017 of VG Musikedition: "As of December 31, 2017, VG Musikedition has a total of 1,886 affiliated and full members"
  3. ↑ GEMA: Kindergartens should also pay . In: Wertheimer Zeitung of November 12, 2010
  4. ↑ see additional agreement between EKD and GEMA dated June 2, 2010 ( memento of the original dated January 29, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. - Authorized group and transfer of rights (free churches) @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.kirchenrecht-ekd.de
  5. ↑ more precisely: UrhG § 19 Abs. 2 + 3 as well as § 21
  6. ↑ Song licenses: daycare centers should pay for singing. SPIEGEL online, accessed on June 12, 2013 .
  7. ↑ Hilmar Pfister: Gema in kindergartens - whoever wants to sing has to pay. Stuttgarter Nachrichten, November 3, 2011, accessed on September 20, 2012 .
  8. ^ GEMA - Society for Musical Performance and Mechanical Reproduction Rights: Homepage . In: Website Title . September 2, 2015. Archived from the original on March 25, 2012. Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved January 2, 2016. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / blog.gema.de
  9. ↑ Stefan Drescher: Dispute about Gema fees in kindergartens settled. Augsburger Allgemeine, April 13, 2011, accessed on September 20, 2011 .
  10. ↑ Andreas Wilkens: Gema is negotiating with countries about flat rates for kindergartens. Heise online , November 11, 2011, accessed on September 20, 2012 .