GEMA revenue rose 4% to €1.33 billion in 2024 ($1.44 billion, according to an average annual exchange rate), the German collecting society announced Tuesday (April 8). The organization also said it’s distributing €1.13 billion ($1.22 billion) to rightsholders, the third consecutive year in which that number has exceeded the billion-euro mark. It reduced its cost ratio modestly, from 15.2% to 14.9%.
Last year “was marked by geopolitical tensions, economic uncertainty, and disruptive technological developments,” GEMA CEO Tobias Holzmüller said in a statement released with the results. “In this environment, GEMA demonstrated stability — financially, organizationally, and culturally.”
The live concert business segment is growing especially fast, with revenue rising almost 17% to €194.9 million ($210.9 million). Public performance revenue as a whole — i.e., revenue from compositions played in public places, including concerts but also stores or restaurants — rose 13.1% to €502 million ($543.3 million). That’s GEMA’s biggest category of revenue, with growth fueled largely by Germany’s live concert boom.
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GEMA’s second biggest source of revenue was online, which came in at €310.1 million ($335.6 million), down very slightly from €310.3 million ($335.8 million). Online generally shows more growth, but the way collecting societies book revenue makes it hard to draw any conclusions from this. Revenue from the use of music on radio and TV increased 1.2% to €308.4 million ($333.8 million).
International revenue increased to €87.8 million ($95 million), up 6.9%. Revenue from statutory remuneration rights, which consists mostly of levies on blank media and computer memory, as well as legal settlements, fell to €58.6 million ($63.4 million) — down significantly from 2023, when retroactive remuneration claims were settled — or about the 2022 level. Mechanical royalties from physical media, such as CDs and vinyl records, should increase 2.2% to €45.7 million ($49.5 million).
For the past few years, since the pandemic, the major European collecting societies have experienced substantial growth — partly because they took in less during the pandemic and partly because of the subsequent boom in concert attendance. This year, growth is expected to return to normal, and that seems to be the case with GEMA’s results. It will be interesting to see if its rival societies fare better, or whether overall growth will return to a slow, gradual climb.
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