GEMA revenue up 5% in 2017 to reach €1.07bn
www.musicbusinessworldwide.com
German collection society GEMA increased its revenues by 5% last year to hit €1.074bn.
That’s up 5%, or nearly €50 million from 2016 thanks in part to a rise in income from the public performance of music, radio and TV, as well as a payment for the so called ‘iPhone tax’.
That 5% represents a slowdown in growth from 2016, when revenues jumped 15% – but that number was flattered by a big-money a settlement with YouTube.
The highest earning category of revenue tracked by GEMA was for the public performance of music, which reached €380.5m in 2017, up 2.8% year-on-year.
Radio and TV came next with €294.2m – a rise of 2.8%.
A payment from the German collection agency for private copyright rights for the ‘iPhone tax’ – levies placed on smartphones and tablets paid to GEMA thanks to an expanded agreement with the Zentralstelle für private Vervielfältigungsrechte (Central Collection Agency for private copying rights, ZPÜ) — also boosted revenues.
Last year, GEMA’s costs amounted to 15% of revenue, which is down for the third year in a row after hitting 16.3% in 2015 and 15.4% in 2016.