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German court: ChatGPT violated copyright law by ‘learning’ from song lyrics
(www.theguardian.com)
this post was submitted on 13 Nov 2025
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I mean every German who ever heard of GEMA knew this was inevitable all the way back in 2022. They threatened entire cities to the point some of them don‘t play music on Christmas markets anymore. You can‘t win against those guys, just hope for a hefty settlement.
GEMA is so bizarre. If you're a musician and composer and want to do a live concert that consists only of songs written by you and there is an entrence fee, you'll basically have to give them all of said fee or even more. They are destroying any culture really, only to give the money to some of the most successful musicians. And that even if you yourself are not part of GEMA, so don't get ANYTHING in return.
All of that is incorrect.
You can check the GEMA fees here: https://www.gema.de/portal/app/tarifrechner/preisrechner - I had it calculate the fees for a 4-hour concert with 100 seats and an entrance fee of 5 Euros, and the total GEMA fee is 31,35 €. If all seats are filled, that is less than 10% of your income. Certainly a lot of money, but a far cry from "all of said fee or even more".
Secondly, if you are not a GEMA member and all the music you play is non-GEMA (and written by yourself), you don't have to pay anything, see here for example: https://www.anwalt.de/rechtstipps/gema (central quote: "Der GEMA-Pflicht unterliegen dabei alle Musikwerke, für die sie die Verwertungsrechte erhalten hat", translation: "GEMA liability applies to all musical works for which it has received exploitation rights.")
I don't like the GEMA either, but let's stay with the verifiable facts, please.
GEMA's social media game is certainly top. Nice to see the money being put to good use.
Sure. Everyone's Taylor Swift. Let's just assume that.
The actual truth is that if you do not play GEMA music, you have to provide evidence of that to GEMA. Young musicians who foolishly reason that they don't have anything to do with GEMA will be dragged through court.
sigh If more than 7 seats out of 100 are filled, you will make a profit. Happier?
I'm not going to comment on your second paragraph, since it doesn't contradict what I wrote. And if I were a GEMA shill, I probably wouldn't provide links for my claims, but you do you.
GEMA was created by the Nazis to take over pop culture. There's a certain logic there.
Of course, under the Nazis you could be sent to camp if you belonged to the wrong subculture. So there is a difference. The rebels of the time listened to jazz, to swing. "Negro music" was the social media of that age, corrupting the youth.