Dancing is getting expensive

Dancing is getting expensive - Gema's reform of the tariff caught in crossfire

Never before has a GEMA (German Society for Musical Performing and Mechanical Reproduction Rights) demand for a rate increase been the subject of such passionate and controversial discussion across Germany. The new event rates, which go into effect on April 1, 2013, mean a GEMA fee increase of up to 1,000 percent for many discos and clubs. If no alternative solution is found, owners/operators will have to pay - like it or not! While the Bundesvereinigung der Musikveranstalter (German Federal Association of Organisers of Musical Performances) and GEMA are currently addressing the tariff question before the court of arbitration, concerned interest groups are seeking their own solutions. The club scene's hopes are pinned on Livekomm - founded just recently, in May 2012 - which is starting official negotiations with GEMA in September and has already put forward its minimum demands. The results of the first official meeting, and whether and how those concerned will be able to avert the dreaded "club death" - so that dancing won't get more expensive - are the central questions to be addressed by this panel.

With:
Klaus Bossert, Clubs am Main, Vorstandsmitglied, DE
Karsten Schölermann, Livekomm, Vorstandsvorsitzender, DE
Olaf Möller, Clubcommission Berlin, Vorstandsvorsitzender, DE (Foto)
Terry Krug, Clubkombinat Hamburg, Vorstandsvorsitzende, DE
Lorenz Schmid, GEMA, Bezirksdirektor Hamburg, DE

Host:
Lothar Scholz, Musikmarkt, Autor, DE