Authors or copyrights (mechanical reproduction rights)
Authors' or copyrights are controlled and settled in each country by a separate collecting society.
In Austria, this is AUME (Austromechana). In Germany it is the GEMA. The individual collecting societies are networked with each other worldwide, so that a remuneration of authors or authors license proceeds is guaranteed. However, it is necessary to report the production to the respective collecting society in the country of the client/applicant. Upon notification, the collecting society will be informed of the pressing plant that will take over the production of the sound, video or data carriers. The pressing plant may only begin production once it has received the "release" from the collecting society.
In any case, we will send you a form after the first order has been placed, the release declaration AudioCD (as download at the end of the page). Please read it carefully, fill it out, sign it and send it back to us (by mail). An AUME production notification is also available here as a link. This will allow us to start with the first production steps without a release from AUME/GEMA.
Royalty free means that the authors are not members of any society.
If authors are members of such societies, the society will charge a license fee per CD/DVD produced, depending on the number of titles and the intended use of the production. Often this license fee is charged by the collecting society before an exemption is granted and the exemption is only granted once the invoice has been settled. We do not require an AUME/ Gema exemption if you or the applicant/client has a work contract with the performing rights society itself. Below are links to the websites of some performing rights societies. Please note that you have to apply to the collecting society of your country for an exemption for your production. Appropriate forms should be available on the websites.
Rights to sound and video recordings
Before duplicating a medium, the rights to the content should also be clarified. The right to reproduce the sound or video recording, or parts thereof, is held solely by the owner or the licensee of this recording. If you are neither the owner nor a licensee authorized to reproduce, you must have the rights to reproduce all parts of the content of the medium confirmed in writing by the rights holder. For example, every music passage in a CD-Rom application or a film, regardless of the file format of the film, as well as every film passage itself, must be checked for legal use.
Rights to documents and software (CD-Rom)
Software and files must be checked with regard to the legal situation concerning reproduction in a similar way as described above for video and sound recordings. So-called "shareware" may also be used freely, but must be requested from the owner for reproduction.
Rights to fonts and images on printed matter
Please note that there are also property rights to images and fonts. If you use photos or logos for the design of your printed materials, you should clarify beforehand whether they may be used without further permission.
Contacts:
Austria
AKM/AUME
P.O. Box 55 1031 Vienna
Phone +43 (0)1 717 87-0 Fax +43 (0)1 712 71 36
office@aume.at
Germany
GEMA
General Directorate Berlin
Bayreuther Straße 37 10787 Berlin Postfach 30 12 40 10722 Berlin Tel. +49 30 21245-00 Fax +49 30 21245-950 E-mail: gema@gema.de
Munich General Directorate Rosenheimer Straße 11 81667 Munich P.O. Box 80 07 67 81607 Munich Tel. +49 89 48003-00 Fax +49 89 48003-969 E-mail: gema@gema.de
Switzerland
SUISA
Bellariastrasse 82 P.O. Box 782 CH-8038 Zurich Tel. +41 44 485 66 66 suisa@suisa.ch