Welcome to the online service for non-commercial licences!
This service gives you the opportunity to share your works under a non-commercial licence for non-commercial use. Since this is a far-reaching decision, we would like to inform you in detail about the service. Please take the time to read the following information. You can also find helpful information in our FAQ.
Description of the service
In order to further increase the flexibility of the rights management, GEMA offers its members the possibility of granting non-commercial licences for non-commercial use for individual works.
1. Licensing
Licensing is carried out in two stages:

Stage 1
Upon request, GEMA will grant you a non-commercial licence, the so-called GEMA Non-Commercial Licence (in the current version "GEMA-NC licence"). On the one hand, this enables you to use your own selected works non-commercially without having to pay anything to GEMA.

Stage 2
On the other hand, the GEMA-NC licence enables you to grant the selected works to third parties under a non-commercial licence for non-commercial use and thereby also to allow them to use the works free of charge. You have the choice between
  • granting a a single-case non-commercial licence for a specific case of use to a specific user
  • or granting a standardised non-commercial licence (e.g. a so-called "Jedermann/Everyone licence") for a large number of uses to an unlimited circle of users.
    However, you can also restrict the standardised licence in terms of time, territory or content. In terms of content, the standardised license can be limited


    - to a specific type of use (e.g. only online uses of the works selected by the member)
    - or to a specific context of use / a specific group of users



    Example of the restriction to a specific context of use / group of users: A broadcasting company (or a group of broadcasting companies) regularly produces audio(visual) content in which certain works of a GEMA member are used repeatedly and which is to be published in the media library as well as on third-party platforms.

    In this case, the GEMA member can apply for a standardised GEMA-NK licence, which allows visitors to the media library or the third-party platform to publish his or her music as part of the relevant content of this broadcasting company (or group of broadcasting companies) in a non-commercial blog, etc. Non-commercial uses of the musical works outside the defined context of use / content and by other users remain subject to remuneration.
2. Conditions for freedom freedom of charge/remuneration
In particular, the following conditions must be met, in particular, in order for the use to be subject to no fee:
  • Before using selected works without a fee or granting a non-commercial licence to third parties, you must have applied for the GEMA-NC licence and received it by e-mail from GEMA. If other rightsholders are involved in the selected works, the GEMA-NC licence can only be applied for jointly. Therefore, the application must be signed by all rightsholders involved and and submitted to GEMA within one month of the request for the application by post or e-mail. In addition, we would like to point out that in this case, the granting of a non-commercial licence to third parties can also only take place jointly with the other rights holders involved.
  • The use of your works, whether by yourself or by third parties, must be non-commercial, may not be a so-called "mixed-use" and may not be subject to a statutory remuneration entitlement or claim . A "mixed-use" exists if works for which a GEMA-NC licence has been granted are used together with works for which no GEMA-NC licence has been granted, and the use is licensed by GEMA on a blanket basis. In all other respects, the use must be within the scope of the GEMA-NC licence applied for by you and must meet the General Terms and Conditions contained therein.
  • The user of the works - i.e. you yourself or the respective third party - must notify GEMA of the according use. Only then can GEMA ensure that the freedom of charge for the use is considered in licensing. To facilitate your notification to GEMA, you will receive a corresponding form ("Notification for use under a non-commercial licence") with the GEMA-NC licence. We kindly ask you to make the form available to those persons to whom you grant a non-commercial licence for submission to GEMA. The form for the respective area of use is also available for download on the GEMA website at www.gema.de.
3. Acquisition of the GEMA-NC licence
To obtain the GEMA-NC licence, the following steps are necessary:
  1. Accept the general terms and conditions
  2. Indicate the type of non-commercial licence (single case licence or standardised licence) you wish to grant and what restrictions should apply
  3. Select the works for which you want to grant a non-commercial licence
  4. Submit your application
    1. Given that you are the sole rightsholder of the selected works: the application is directly send to GEMA via the Online Service.
    2. Given that apart from yourself, there are also other rightsholders involved in the selected works: Request the application, print it out, sign it yourself and have it signed by all other rightsholders involved and submit it to GEMA by e-mail or post within one month.
  5. Assessment of the application by GEMA
  6. Receipt of the GEMA-NC licence by e-mail
4. Registration with the service
If you are not yet registered with the service, we ask you to register with your log-in data in the next step. If you do not yet have any log-in data for the service, we kindly ask you to apply for it with the according form.