GEMA Licence for Music in Business: These Obligations Apply

If third-party music plays in a shop, in a restaurant or on a telephone hold line, that is not simply permitted in Germany. Anyone who plays music publicly generally has to obtain a licence from GEMA, the German collecting society for musical copyrights, beforehand.

In brief: anyone who plays music publicly – for example in a shop, in the hospitality sector, on a telephone hold line, on a website or at events – must register and license this use with GEMA before starting, under § 15 UrhG (the German Copyright Act). This affects practically every business with customer contact that uses music. Anyone who plays music without registering pays, in addition to the fee, a control surcharge of 100 %.

Who is subject to the GEMA licensing requirement?

In principle, every business that makes copyrighted music publicly available is affected, regardless of industry or size. This ranges from retail shops with background music to restaurants, cafés and gyms, as well as medical practices or companies with music on their telephone hold line. Anyone who embeds music on their own website or uses music at a single event is also covered. What matters is neither the type of business nor whether the music is played via a streaming service, your own system or a radio station – the decisive factor is solely that music is made audible to third parties.

Small businesses are not automatically exempt either: the licensing requirement depends on the use, not on the size of the company. A tool such as Company Audit shows which of these and other obligations specifically apply to your company.

What do you have to do?

You first need to record where music is played publicly in your business and then register this use with GEMA before starting. The applicable tariff depends on the floor area and the type of use – a small shop with background music is therefore classified differently from a large event space or a business with several locations. The following steps are required:

1. Check where music is played publicly in your business (rooms, hold line, website, events).
2. Register the use with GEMA before starting.
3. Choose the appropriate tariff according to area and type of use.
4. Pay the licence fees and keep the licence documents.
5. For events, do not forget the separate registration for each event.

The order matters here: registration must take place before the use, not afterwards. Anyone who is already playing music and only registers later has in the meantime already breached the obligation. The retained licence documents also serve as proof if the registration is ever checked.

By when and how often do you have to take care of it?

The GEMA licence is not a one-off matter but an ongoing obligation, usually invoiced annually, which must remain in place without interruption for as long as music is played in your business. For individual events, the ongoing business licence is generally not sufficient: a separate registration for each event is also required, for example for a company party with live music or a DJ, a summer party or a customer event with a music programme. Anyone who keeps both – ongoing operations and occasional events – in view avoids gaps in licensing and thus unnecessary back-payment claims.

What are the consequences of a violation?

Anyone who plays music publicly without having registered it with GEMA beforehand must not only pay the regular fee retroactively. A control surcharge of 100 % is also added – the back payment is thus twice as high as the fee that would have been due with timely registration. The legal basis for the payment obligation is § 15 UrhG in conjunction with the GEMA tariffs, which differ depending on the type of use and area. The surcharge applies regardless of whether the missing registration was intentional or due to ignorance.

Frequently asked questions

Is quiet background music in the sales area also subject to licensing?

Yes. Pure background music in the sales area already requires a licence – “only quiet” does not exempt you from the obligation to register with GEMA. What matters is solely that the music is audible to customers.

Do I also need a GEMA licence for music on my website?

Yes. Public playback of music on your own website expressly falls among the uses requiring a licence and must be registered with GEMA in advance, regardless of whether the music starts automatically or is played actively.

Does the licensing requirement also apply to the telephone hold line?

Yes. Music on a telephone hold line is also a type of use that is subject to payment under § 15 UrhG and must be registered before starting – even if only a few callers hear it.

Do I have to register separately for each event?

Yes. In addition to the ongoing licence for the business, each individual event, such as company parties, requires its own registration, even if the business already holds a regular licence.

Can I avoid GEMA fees entirely?

For some uses there are alternatives such as GEMA-free music, which avoids the fees altogether. If, however, regularly licensed music is used, there is no way around registering with GEMA, regardless of the size of the business.

Source: § 15 UrhG · GEMA tariffs. This article is general information and does not replace legal advice in an individual case. As of: July 2026.