Increasing copyright fees have resulted in a lack of carols at Christmas markets in Germany.
GEMA, Germany’s copyright organisation, has significantly raised the fees for playing Christmas carols over loudspeakers – as a result, some Christmas markets have chosen to do away with music entirely.
A Berlin Christmas market organiser Jens Schmidt said: “This year there will be no music at the Christmas market because GEMA increased the prices by more than 1,000 per cent.
“We can’t afford it, our market sellers can’t afford it and the guests won’t want to pay for it.”
Organisers are not the only people upset at the lack of festive tunes this year.
French student Lèuih Morgiah told Euronews: “A Christmas without songs is not Christmas, it’s not as festive as you would expect.”
According to Gema, the tariffs and fees have remained unchanged in recent years.
The group say their fee calculations take into account the entire event area.
Previously, music licensing relied on customer-reported usage areas, but discrepancies emerged during re-measurements following the Coronavirus pandemic.
Numerous cities across Germany expressed concern about increased bills from the music-collecting society Gema.
According to the organisation, approximately 35 cities saw significant increases in their bills the previous year.
Berlin market seller Andreas Schulze noted: “When the music was playing, people were dancing, we’ve seen it all; and without music, there’s no more dancing.”
