Netlabels vs GEMA

cyhl · Post by **cyhl** » Sat Jul 29, 2006 2:24 pm

rockmachine wrote:one way to fix the problem is to use an alias for net downloads.

well, it might be a way to hide for a while, but it doesn't make any difference legally speaking: it's not the alias that matters, it's the civil name of the composer!

rockmachine · Post by **rockmachine** » Sat Jul 29, 2006 3:50 pm

yap, true. the real name plus the aliases are registered. if he uses another alias, he can "hide". and possibly no one will search him....

its only a possibility. not really legal, but on the other hand, what the gema does isnt very cool either.

FOEM always just takes the tracks from registered artists offline, to avoid complications. maybe thats a better way

Anonym · Post by **Anonym** » Sun Jul 30, 2006 3:06 pm

cyhl wrote:
rockmachine wrote:one way to fix the problem is to use an alias for net downloads.
well, it might be a way to hide for a while, but it doesn't make any difference legally speaking: it's not the alias that matters, it's the civil name of the composer!

What if you never use a civil name?

rockmachine · Post by **rockmachine** » Sun Jul 30, 2006 3:10 pm

well, thats the point

there are thousands of producers out there who release on vinyl and also on netlabels, but with another name. the netlabel should be so cool and tell nobody the real name thats all

Ronny Pries · Post by **Ronny Pries** » Sun Jul 30, 2006 10:58 pm

patrick bateman wrote:
Ronny Pries wrote:there is a solution for members of collecting societies.

you have to discard the rights of sale for the digital domain from your membership contract. call your collecting society agent and tell them to restrict your personal contract to physical media only and no further costs for netlabel owners will be charged.

i bet there's surely a catch with contract changes regarding to quarters but if you're a registered artist and unsure what to do, this will definitely improve the situation.

ronny
I have never heard, and never seen a contract where this was possible ??

Ring up the gema, socan, whatever and tell them to do it (restrict the distribution contract to physical media only), and they'll do it. I was talking about such an option with somebody at the gema about my own contract some years back. i have choosen to leave anyway.

Member contracts are always matter of distribution areas and those you can choose however you like. Unfortunately only very few people know about this option.

rockmachine wrote:well, thats the point

there are thousands of producers out there who release on vinyl and also on netlabels, but with another name. the netlabel should be so cool and tell nobody the real name thats all

this is against the interest of many artists, last not least if sh!t breaks up the netlabel can easily be put into serious problems if the artist reveals himself and his releases there.

bad idea.

Ronny

Cotumo · Post by **Cotumo** » Sun Jul 30, 2006 11:52 pm

Good that you share your experience with us Jean-Paul. I've talked to Jeff Bennett some months ago and he also said that Thinner wanted to take his tracks offline and they are by now.

Most producers are unaware, that the gema steals their very own music and therfore their souls :evil:

Ronny Pries wrote:this is against the interest of many artists, last not least if sht breaks up the netlabel can easily be put into serious problems if the artist reveals himself and his releases there.

bad idea.

Ronny

And besides the producer can't earn his probs by netreleases if he uses an alias which can't get connected to his real name.

I think many producers use netlabels as an easy way to promote themselves and to offer free music. Without an affiliated alias they lose this benefit.

Can somebody check out Ronny's proposal and call his own gema agent?

rockmachine · Post by **rockmachine** » Sun Jul 30, 2006 11:58 pm

i dont recommend it but i know quite a few labels who work like that.. they know it is against those rules, but they see themselves as too small and unknown to get in the focus of an inspection or whatever. for sure, it could get them into trouble, but they calculate the risk.

didnt want to sound as if i recommended this practique, was only meant as an information

Cotumo · Post by **Cotumo** » Mon Jul 31, 2006 11:14 am

Lee wrote:after i noticed pentagonik and the netlag events in berlin were making it known they were actively boycotting gema.

That's right. The gema is a negative business for most of the techno-scene. Only well-known artist have a benefit of it. Unknowns don't earn much money with it but are not allowed to release their tracks for free or to sell their tracks excluding the gema.

When you make a public party you have to pay a lot of money to the gema (for 300 people around 100€), even if you play only one gema licensed track. Only way to bypass this is to play only gema-free tracks and make a list of all tracks played at the event. We do this at our Netlag partys and try to attract attention to the problematic.

The Berliner Zeitung wrote an article about Netlag and the associated netlabels. You can read the german text here.