the Songwriting Camp and gemaplus

For the first time, the GEMA General Assembly was held in Munich’s urban Werksviertel district, which brings together the worlds of culture and work. This fit well with the event’s innovative concept, which featured numerous expert panels, networking opportunities, and concerts. Parts of the diverse supporting program were also open to the public. 

The official portion of the event focused on the major challenges of our time, such as AI, streaming, and intellectual property protection, as well as the reform of GEMA’s cultural funding. Six startups presented innovative solutions for AI-powered music production and rights management.

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the Songwriting Camp and gemaplus

The Songwriting Camp celebrated its premiere at the general meeting. Young artists engaged in close creative exchange here. In small groups, they had the opportunity to implement song ideas and work on them together. 
In 2025, we continued to offer our members extensive extras with GEMAplus. These included numerous workshops and webinars, showcases at popular festivals, industry-specific insurance and new and existing partner offers. 

over 100.000 MUSIC CREATORS UNITED

GEMA membership has grown rapidly in recent years. It took us just two years to grow from 90,000 members in 2023 to over 100,000. 

THE TOP CITIES FOR OUR MEMBERS

The number of GEMA members has risen rapidly in recent times. In just two years, our membership has grown from 90,000 in 2023 to over 100,000. This is a remarkable figure that underscores our significance as a creative community. The last time we saw such strong growth was in the 1990s, when many musicians from the new federal states joined GEMA.

THE TOP CITIES FOR OUR MEMBERS

Most composers and lyricists live in Berlin. Not only in absolute terms, but also in relation to the total population. Next comes Hamburg, famous for its music scene, followed by Cologne, the media city, then Munich and, in fifth place, the much smaller city of Leipzig. 

FROM 8 TO OVER 100: AGE DISTRIBUTION AT GEMA

There are some very young GEMA members. This is evident from the group of 8 to 20-year-olds, which numbers over 750 members. This means that the youngest GEMA member is only 8 years old. Compared to the age pyramid, the 31 to 40-year-olds are disproportionately represented, as are the 50 to 60-year-olds.

Where do our members live?

That shouldn't surprise anyone: the vast majority of all GEMA members reside in Europe. However, around 600 GEMA members, or 0.6%, live in the United States. Just under half that number live in Asia. One in every thousand GEMA members lives in South America, Africa or Australia.  

DIVERSITY ALSO in Terms OF NATIONALITIES

GEMA members come from 269 countries. This means that people from so many countries compose music, write lyrics and publish music for the German market. An enrichment for musical diversity.

Members by repertoire range