IMPF hosted a trade mission to Germany on March 18, inviting members from across the globe to gain insights from a range of top music professionals working in the territory.
The trade mission opened at the offices of the German Music Publishers Association (DMV) in Berlin, with a welcome by Annette Barrett, president IMPF and with opening remarks from Goetz von Einem (DMV) and Maximilian Paproth (Budde Music Germany), who provided an introduction to the German music publishing environment and the broader market context. The session set the scene for the day by outlining the structure of the German market, the role of publishers, and the key trends shaping rights management and revenue generation.
Goetz von Einem welcomed participants to the DMV headquarters, highlighting the historical significance of the building as a long-standing centre for music publishing activity and explaining that the site now hosts several music-industry organisations, reflecting Germany’s collaborative industry structure: “We are all under one roof,” he said. “It’s a place to come together in the spirit and interests of music.”
He introduced DMV as one of the oldest trade associations in Germany, representing the majority of the country’s music publishers, from major international companies to long-established family-owned firms and a growing number of small independent publishers.
He noted that the German publishing market is estimated at around €600 million annually, with a large share of revenues coming from collective management income, particularly through GEMA. Classical and printed music publishing remain unusually significant in Germany compared with many other markets, still accounting for a substantial portion of revenues. Von Einem also outlined current priorities for publishers, including ongoing reforms to cultural funding within GEMA, efforts to modernise data and rights management systems through integration with ICE, and legal actions relating to AI training and licensing, which are seen as critical to protecting the value of repertoire.
Maximilian Paproth then presented a high-level overview of the German music market dynamics. He explained that the market is strongly driven by digital consumption, although physical formats — especially vinyl — continue to generate meaningful revenue. He highlighted the dominance of international repertoire in radio and streaming charts, noting that German artists often release in English in order to compete internationally. Paproth emphasised that success in Germany increasingly depends on coordinated, long-term strategies across multiple platforms, as radio, streaming, live performance, social media and sync placements no longer translate automatically into one another.
He explained: “TikTok doesn’t automatically trigger streaming in Germany; streaming success doesn’t automatically translate to sold out tours; a radio hit doesn’t automatically create a streaming hit… Make sure you keep the fanbase happy and active between releases. A well thought out marketing mix from the record company or management is essential.
He stressed that publishers and labels must work closely together to build sustainable careers rather than relying on individual hits, encouraging a portfolio approach for songwriters and composers, with activity across multiple projects, formats and territories.
“The German market rewards flexibility,” he said. “It’s all about building repertoire and careers with a holistic long term approach. Don’t stick to one project in the hope it’s going to be big – that’s not the right approach anymore. Make sure [your songwriters] are in as many rooms as possible.”
The session concluded by underlining that the German market rewards flexibility, strong partnerships, and long-term planning, themes that would recur throughout the rest of the trade mission discussions.
Live sector in Germany: touring economics, audience trends and artist development
The second session focused on the German live music sector, led by Matthias Noelte of Budde Talent Agency, and explored how live performance has become the central economic driver for many artists. The discussion underlined that in Germany, live music is no longer a secondary revenue stream but a core part of career-building, with touring and concerts often generating more meaningful income than recordings or streaming for developing acts. Against the backdrop of a crowded and competitive market, the session emphasised that artists increasingly depend on live performance as the foundation of a sustainable career.
A central theme was the growing complexity of audience development. Noelte noted that fans now often discover artists through Instagram, TikTok and other social platforms, which has fundamentally changed how live shows are marketed.
Viral momentum can help drive awareness, but it does not always translate directly into streaming, radio success or ticket sales. By contrast, some younger artists with strong social-media traction can sell large numbers of tickets very quickly, even without a long live track record. This highlighted a broader point repeated throughout the session: success in the live market depends on understanding where audiences are formed and how they move — or do not move — between platforms.
Noelte described the current landscape as follows: “We had around 250,000 pop concerts take place in Germany in 2024. There are 5m regular concert attendees in Germany – 22% more than 20 years ago. 48% of young fans discover events via Instagram, 64% of Gen Z actively search for events on social media.”
The conversation also stressed that radio airplay and live success are increasingly disconnected, particularly for domestic German repertoire. A hit on radio may still support visibility, corporate bookings and broader profile-building, but it does not automatically sell concert tickets. Instead, strong ticket sales tend to come from a combination of factors: artist identity, sustained fan engagement, coherent digital strategy, and a compelling live proposition. Participants discussed how the most effective artist development now requires a long-term, multi-channel approach, combining releases, live activity, social media, brand opportunities and strategic partnerships.
Another key issue was the intense pressure of the touring market itself. With high production costs, rising ticket prices, heavy competition for audiences, and limited festival slots for emerging acts, promoters and agents must be increasingly selective and strategic. The session highlighted the importance of venue choice, efficient routing, repeated performances in the same market where possible, and realistic expectations around growth. Festival exposure remains valuable, but access is limited and often favours established names, leaving developing artists reliant on strong relationships and careful planning to break through.
The discussion concluded by reinforcing that the German live market rewards patience, consistency and career-building over quick wins. For agencies, publishers and managers alike, the challenge is to identify artists early, support them over the long term, and help them build an audience that can translate into lasting live demand.
“Budde Talent Agency cannot always compete financially with the biggest agencies,” Noelte offered as an example. “We find artists at the club level and take them through to the arena level. It’s important to find artists that we believe in early on.”
Radio market in Germany: programming, access and publishing value
The third session provided an in-depth look at the German radio market, led by Andreas Zagelow of MDR, who offered a practical overview of how radio operates in Germany and what it means for artists, songwriters and publishers. He began by noting that radio remains a highly significant medium despite the growth of streaming: a large majority of the German population still listens to radio on a daily basis, and public-service as well as private broadcasters continue to play an important role in audience reach, discovery and rights income.
“Over 75% of the population over 14 are listening to radio daily,” he said. “That’s more than 53 million people listening to more than 300 radio stations, with an average listening time of over 250 minutes. There are 70 radio stations by 9 state public service broadcasters.”
Zagelow explained the structure of the German market, highlighting the strong role of regional public-service broadcasters alongside a large number of private stations. Within public radio, different stations typically serve different demographics, from youth audiences to mainstream adult listeners and cultural programming. This regional and segmented structure makes the market more complex than a single national playlist system, but it also creates multiple entry points for repertoire depending on audience, format and editorial priorities.
A major part of the discussion focused on how music gets onto radio playlists. Participants heard that access usually comes through a combination of digital promotion platforms, radio promoters, label and management relationships, and direct contact with music editors. However, simply delivering music is not enough: stations are looking for songs that fit their format and audience, and for artists who can be developed over time through interviews, off-air performances and broader collaboration. Zagelow stressed that radio works on a longer timeline than streaming, often requiring sustained focus on a single track over several months, and that frequent releases can work against building recognition with listeners. Personality, artist story and availability for promotion were presented as important factors alongside the music itself.
“It takes time to make a song popular on radio,” he explained. “If you want your artist to put out eight songs in the next nine weeks, we will only choose one. If we put a new song out every week, it won’t have an effect on radio.
“We also need to give your artist a face and personality,” he added. “To become a fan of a musician, you need a connection. That’s our task. If we get a promo pack that says an artist has 3 million plays on Spotify, that’s ok, but how can I make them into a person?”
The session also made clear that radio and streaming function very differently. While streaming can respond instantly to trends, radio remains more structured, research-driven and audience-tested. Stations monitor airplay charts, streaming data, Shazam, TikTok and competitor playlists, but final programming decisions are also shaped by listener research and internal editorial judgment. The speaker showed how songs are tested with audiences and how playlists are built to balance familiarity, discovery, tempo and mood, all with the aim of keeping listeners engaged while still introducing new music.
From a publishing perspective, the session underlined that radio still matters economically. Airplay continues to generate meaningful performance income through GEMA, particularly on larger stations, and radio can remain a valuable source of long-term revenue even if it no longer functions as the primary tastemaker it once was. At the same time, several participants observed that radio success does not automatically convert into streaming or ticket sales, especially for younger artists, reinforcing a theme heard earlier in the day: every platform now plays a different role in artist development.
The session closed with a discussion about the future of radio, including questions around digital distribution, regional cooperation and the challenge of maintaining relevance with younger audiences. Even so, the overall conclusion was that radio remains a significant part of the German music ecosystem — not as a standalone driver of success, but as an influential, structured and still valuable platform for visibility, audience-building and publishing income.
Film, TV and sync market in Germany: music supervision, licensing and practical realities
The fourth session focused on the film, TV and audiovisual sync market in Germany, with insights from Milena Fessmann of Cinesong, moderated by Tanya Timofeeva. The discussion offered participants a practical overview of how music is selected and licensed for screen productions in Germany, and how publishers can engage more effectively with music supervisors, production companies and creative teams.
Milena Fessmann described the role of the music supervisor as one that sits between the creative ambitions of a production and the legal and financial realities of licensing. She explained that music supervision involves helping directors and producers shape the musical identity of a project while also managing rights clearance, budget limitations and timing pressures. In practice, this means balancing artistic ideas with what is actually feasible, identifying alternatives when requested tracks are too expensive or unavailable, and ensuring that music choices genuinely support the narrative and emotional tone of the production. She emphasised that this is a highly relationship-driven field.
“It helps a lot to get to know people and understand who you are talking to,” she suggested. “Having long-term relationships that you can rely on is always beneficial. You have to be able to trust each other. I like to be transparent and share as much information as possible with the other side.”
The session underlined that Germany has a large and active screen-production market, with significant output across film, television and streaming, which creates consistent demand for sync. At the same time, the German market has some distinctive characteristics, including the use of blanket licensing for certain public-service television productions, where some repertoire can be used without individual sync negotiation, with remuneration instead flowing through collective management structures. While this mainly applies to domestic broadcasting and not international exploitation, it remains an important feature of the German landscape and affects how music is sourced for some productions.
A major part of the discussion centred on how music supervisors discover and select repertoire. There is no single route into the market: supervisors work through a mixture of publisher relationships, direct recommendations, databases, newsletters and personal listening. Fessmann made clear that direct contact with publishers is useful, but only when it is relevant, well targeted and professionally presented. Clear information about ownership, sub-publishing arrangements, ease of clearance and realistic pricing is especially valuable, because uncertainty around rights can quickly make a track unusable. Personal relationships and industry presence were presented as much more effective than untargeted cold outreach.
The conversation also highlighted the importance of authenticity in sync choices. Productions increasingly want music that feels culturally, emotionally and contextually credible, whether that means the right genre for a scene, the right sonic identity for a character, or the right local flavour for a setting. This often creates opportunities for independent and emerging repertoire, especially where it offers originality and affordability.
“Depending on your definition of indie and major, I have had good experiences with both, but my heart is always with indie music,” she said. “I like to explore things – going to the Top 100 on Spotify is a job anybody can do. Authenticity is very important. If the music tells another story or adds something extra, then it’s good.”
Library music remains widely used for background or lower-priority uses, while bespoke score and featured songs are handled more selectively and strategically.
“I’m using a lot of library music,” said Fessmann. “Mainly for background, if it’s not ‘that important’ because it’s just used as a setting for a place like a club or a restaurant. Library music isn’t as cheesy as it used to be. I would always prefer to ask musicians or bands that I know to make something unique for the project, but it’s tricky for directors because you don’t know what you’re going to get.”
At the same time, Fessmann stressed the importance of not undervaluing music simply to secure placements, particularly in higher-budget productions, where fair fees should still apply.
“I think actual musicians should get properly paid,” she said. “Music is still valuable, and I’m trying to maintain that value. If I’m working on a big Netflix show, I feel that musicians should get more than, say, €500. It’s different when it’s a small film, but a big budget production should have an ok budget for music. If you have a €20 million production, you should at least be able to pay a band €2,000.”
The session also touched on broader market developments, including pressure on budgets, the importance of getting music supervision involved early in the production process, and growing concerns around AI-generated music. The overall view was that, in higher-end film and television, there is still strong resistance to AI-generated music where authenticity and artistic credibility matter, although lower-budget and functional uses may develop differently over time.
Overall, the session showed that sync in Germany is not simply a licensing exercise but a creative and relational business, where success depends on understanding how productions are made, communicating clearly, and building trust with the people shaping projects from the inside.
The 2026 Spring Assemblies
IMPF held its 2026 Spring Assemblies following the trade mission, on March 19 – 20, at the Waldorf Astoria Berlin.
Upon welcoming delegates to the Assemblies, IMPF President Annette Barrett said: “We first started to organise this meeting last October. We wanted to come to Berlin for a number of reasons: Firstly to acknowledge the strength of the German market for indie publishers; secondly the importance of GEMA in the sphere of collective management; and thirdly to recognise Budde Music as a founding member of IMPF and the late Rolf Budde as a fierce advocate of indies everywhere.
“What continues to inspire me is the scale and impact of the independent music publishing sector,” she added, speaking more broadly. “We are the custodians of an extraordinary body of work based on a richness and diversity of musical creativity from around the world. That shared strength is what gives us the credibility and influence to have a seat at the table.”
Germany as a Creative Hub
The first session of the Assemblies looked at Germany as a creative hub, Benjamin Budde (Budde Music Publishing); Birgit Böcher (DMV), Georg Sobbe (Bundesverband Musikindustrie) and Thimo Prziklang (GEMA).
The spotlight session took a broad look at how Germany’s cultural and economic ecosystems are shaping music business and culture, and identified emerging opportunities.
Benjami Budde built on some of the insights gained from the trade mission sessions from the previous day, highlighting in more detail the opportunities that radio still provides in the territory, especially when it dovetails with live.
“Germany has something that is very unique compared to other markets, in its radio market,” he said. “Because Germany still has a thriving radio business, with many radio stations organising concerts in tiny towns across Germany, keeping it very local, there’s a huge chance for breaking new artists via radio. I think that’s the source of Germany’s export business. It’s been a very important part over the last decade. There are many artists that come to Germany from territories like the UK such as Dua Lipa and James Arthur, who start with radio and are able to build over time – being played on the radio station and getting booked on the radio festivals. With that new audience, you build a story that you can present in other countries.”
Thimo Prziklang (Director Strategy & Development, GEMA) talked about the influence of Germany’s broader live market: “It’s worth pointing out that Germany has got a very strong live concert sector,” he said. “On GEMA’s side of the business, we had 250,000 licensed concerts last year. That’s a push for the market. We are also seeing developments in streaming, developments in AI… but a real positive development is the live sector, which led to a record number of collections for GEMA in 2025.”
Part of that live activity is thanks to the schlager music genre, which is still has an incredible impact on the overall music landscape in Germany. Budde noted that the country’s shift from physical to digital product has happened later in the territory compared to others because of the popularity of schlager music and the older demographic that it is typically associated with. But Birgit Böcher pointed back to the data that live music concerts offer, saying that the genre is breaking through to younger generations: “if you look at the live schlager concerts, they’re all full with a lot of young people in attendance. I think that’s a good thing.”
Royalty Distribution Gaps
The second panel to take place at the Assemblies focused on royalty distribution gaps and the implication for independent music publishers. It took a candid look at the working relationship between independent music publishers and CMOs in territories across the world, and how inefficiencies affect financial stability, market competitiveness, and cultural diversity across global music ecosystems.
The discussion was held between Teri Nelson Carpenter (Reel Muzik Werks), Sylvain Piat (CISAC), Lisa Ni Choisdealbha (IMRO) and Michel Allain (WIPO).
The session aimed to uncover practical recommendations that can lead to more efficient, equitable, and culturally representative royalty systems that would support independent publishers and the songwriters they represent. Teri Nelson Carpenter took the opportunity early on to suggest that the foundation of any lasting solution would be based on three things: “When you think about this whole topic, it’s about the lack of communication, clarity and collaboration We need to share where the disconnects are.”
Her advice to CMOs? “If you want to get a better relationship with publishers, involve them in your governance and working groups.”
Although Nelson Carpenter was also keen to give credit where it’s due, saying, “I look to the likes of CISAC and I thank them – their collaborative nature with publishers, songwriters and working groups will help this issue.”
IMRO’s Ni Choisdealbha agreed that collaboration is key here, saying that the momentum had to come from both sides and at all levels.
“It’s not us and them,” she insisted. “It’s the rising tide that lifts all boats. As a CMO, we don’t know publishers’ problems unless they tell us. Come to us and tell us. I’m not promising it’s going to be done overnight, but we can’t fix problems unless we know what they are. There’s no point in a CMO staying on the path that they’re on unless they’re serving the customer. Collaboration needs to happen on a grassroots level – the small publisher and local CMO getting together and working it out. There isn’t a CMO in the world that wouldn’t agree to that because they’d be shooting themselves in the foot.”
Various possible industry and policy interventions around this issue were discussed including ongoing work at WIPO on CMO governance, potential CISAC initiatives such as shared dispute-resolution mechanisms or expanded access to CIS-Net, and the responsibility of DSPs and platforms to deliver greater transparency to support fair and balanced licensing negotiations.
WIPO’s Michel Allain said that the problem that many of the smaller CMOs around the world are facing is access to data, as well as pointing to a need for significant upgrades to infrastructure.
“We’ve got to step up and respond on the highest level technologically, with investment in digital infrastructure,” he said. “When you have these legacy systems that you have to upgrade – that’s where the problems lie.”
He also suggested, however, that problems around this issue begin much earlier than we might appreciate.
“Education is key,” he said. “As an industry, we don’t value copyright management skills enough and we don’t invest in education at all stages. “We have the WIPO Academy, including a distance learning course on IP. For the artists and publishing staff, I would recommend CLIP – it’s artists speaking to artists and publishers speaking to publishers.”
Ni Choisdealbha agreed, saying, “We need to educate kids in what a royalty is, what an IP is, and what they are handing over when they create things. There are kids creating things, uploading to YouTube and expecting the money to roll in. From the point of view of a kid who wants to make it in the industry, they need to understand what ownership is from a very early age. By the time they are 18 – 20, the ship has sailed.”
Market Access & Growth Opportunities in Eastern Europe
With Eastern Europe being one of the fastest-growing music markets in the world today, driven by streaming adoption, rising local repertoire, and cross-border collaborations, the third panel of the two day event looked at the music markets of countries like Poland, Romania and the Baltics, which are seeing strong digital growth, along with Ukraine and the Balkans, which are proving an ability to produce globally relevant artists despite infrastructure challenges.
Patrycja Lobaczewska, (Believe); Virgo Sillamaa (EMEE); Paulina Golba (Golba Music Publishing) and Mitko Chatalbashev (CISAC and BIEM) provided insights to give independent publishers a greater understanding of the region’s characteristics and opportunities.
Paulina Golba began with some broad market considerations, and noted something of a disparity between the size of the collective territories and their performance as music markets, which she attributed to issues in infrastructure.
“There is a population paradox in Eastern Europe,” she said. “There are 102 million people across nine Central Eastern European countries, compared to 84 million people in Germany alone. However, total collections across those nine CEE societies is only 40% of GEMA collections.
“My belief is that talent is everywhere but infrastructure development isn’t,” she added. “Small societies [across CEE] have to do the same job [as their larger counterparts in other parts of the world]. GEMA has almost 800 people, whereas we have the likes of SOKOJ and SOZA with around 70 people. I see them as heroes. Every day they are struggling with huge amounts of data and having to do the same job.”
For the above reason, Golba urged partners to send “gold standard data” to their sub-publishers to get the best out of the region.”
However, EMEE research coordinator and ex-CEO of Music Estonia Virgo Sillamaa pointed to the great strides that had been made in the region: “10 years ago, we didn’t have any publishers in Estonia,” he offered as an example. “On paper, yes, but not modern publishers that could develop talent. Today, we have two small publishers building the whole business – FAAR Music and Tier Music Publishing. They are driving a paradigm shift in how people work and the attitude of artists, songwriters and composers. That’s a massive change.
“Shout out to IMPF as well because making this exchange happen is key for these kinds of territories,” he added.
AI – Licensing, Litigation & the Future of Creative Rights
Following the formalities of the General Assembly on the second day of the event, delegates gathered for a final panel focusing on AI. It was moderated by IMPF Secretary General Nicole Schulze, who gave some opening remarks to set the tone.
“Publishers aren’t against innovation, they’re for it, and they recognise that AI is part of the future,” she said. “We are trying to align with AI providers but they’re not really listening. It’s not a new discussion, we know the playbook. Just as with discussions around user generated content and the value gap, it’s about resisting accountability. The question is, how do we create the ecosystem that we all want?”
The rest of the panel consisted of Kai Welp (GEMA); Tamay Aykut (Surreal); Anders Søgaard (University of Copenhagen); Verena Bößmann (Dunstan Music/Dunstan Media, Board of Directors, VUT) and Adriana Moscoso del Prado (GESAC), with discussions encompassing both licensing and litigation.
Moscoso del Prado said that political courage to develop and enforce robust licensing legislation is the key to protecting artists and their representatives: “What we are asking for at GESAC is political will and courage to rebalance the situation, and specific legislation to protect the creative sector,” she said. “The current copyright framework is not able to be applied. When gen AI companies come to Europe, they say there is no basis for a license because they have trained in the US or China – but they are targeting the European market. We need to find a way to develop a licensing market. With the framework we have now we cannot enforce the copyright legislation.”
Verena Bößmann was keen to make sure that the music industry’s focus is not too narrowly placed on licensing music as AI training data, suggesting that the creative value of what the music industry has goes beyond that.
“In addition to training data licensing, we need viable business models that focus on personality rights,” she said. “Why do people spend hundreds of dollars to go to a concert? It’s about the personality, the experience, the emotion, the brand. We shouldn’t be asking for platforms to give us flat fee peanuts for licensing creative rights. We need to tell them that it’s about much more than the words – it’s about the personality and the emotion, and they have to pay for that in an appropriate way.”
Anders made similar distinctions between AI and organic work based on the human element, also suggesting that the value of music came from more than just the raw ‘data’ that tech companies are using for their generative models. With this mindset, there was a hopeful suggestion that artistic expression will survive any AI apocalypse.
“My gut feeling is that we have no reason to think that whatever you can develop in a biological system you can’t [with an AI system] – but that doesn’t mean that we have to value it the same,” he said. “When you think about a musician you tend to reduce it to input/output. But as a society we might have an interest in the human capacity that develops over time. So even if AI can make music better than we can, it doesn’t mean we have to care. People still got to the Olympics to watch a human run 100m in 10s when we have machines that can do it in three.”
