The current shutdown of public life is threatening the existence of the industry, which is characterised by individual, small and micro enterprises - partnering with the performers who are the focus of attention. The German music industry fears that losses caused by corona will amount to almost 5.5 billion Euros within 6 months. The damage report of the music industry illustrates this.

With the advance payments to its producers of sound recordings, which are starting right now, GVL is making a further contribution to the financial support of its rightsholders. By doing so, it intends to counteract the acute economic effects of the corona pandemic, especially on independent labels.

In addition to the "emergency relief", for which GVL will provide up to €4 million as part of its grants, other possibilities for short-term support, such as advance payments on future distributions, are also being firmed up. Rightsholders should be able to benefit from these measures as soon as possible.

In this way, as employers, we support the call of the federal government and the campaign #wirbleibenzuhause (#westayathome). Our colleagues stay at home to protect the elderly, the sick and the weak and to support the many heroes in the health care system.

As an emergency measure, the GVL pays 250 Euros to its freelance rightsholders for the cancellation of concerts and productions, so that they at least have a financial margin for the most necessary things. In addition, the GVL Committees are currently discussing further measures. The aim is to provide the GVL's rightsholders with a financial buffer in the coming months so that they can cope better with everyday life.

This is merely a precautionary measure. So far, no GVL employees have fallen ill.

"For us, the protection of our employees has absolute priority," emphasize Guido Evers and Dr. Tilo Gerlach, GVL's Managing Directors. "Only with a healthy workforce can we ensure that we will be able to continue to provide an, albeit limited, service to our rightsholders and partners in the coming weeks".

Dear GVL members,

Events regarding the coronavirus have been developing extremely fast over the past few days. We know that many of you also find themselves in an exceptional situation. In addition to health concerns, economic aspects also play a major role, especially among our rightsholders.

Our members can use the new function “open cases” now! On top of that, due to modernised procedures, contribution notifications can be handled more quickly and efficiently in a partly automated verification process.

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Previous associates of GVL have been the Bundesverband Musikindustrie e.V. (Federal Association of the Music Industry, short: BVMI) and the Deutsche Orchestervereinigung e.V. (German Orchestra Association, short: DOV). In its role as an associate, the BFFS is going to represent particularly the interests of actors and dubbing actors in future.

The “direct distribution public performance” shall, in exceptional cases, also make it possible to compensate performances which previously could not be taken into account by the distribution system based on broadcast reports.