The short answer: the promoter reports the concert, not the ensemble, and reports it to the collecting society of the country where the concert takes place. Whoever invites you into their series reports to their society. If you invite yourselves, hire the hall and run the box office, you are the promoter and report where you play. Your association's blanket agreement usually applies only in your own country and only when you are the promoter yourselves. This article explains the rule, shows deadlines and surcharges in 16 countries and says what to do with a public-domain programme. All details come from the websites of the societies, associations and churches, retrieved on 8 September 2026, and are linked. This is not legal advice; the societies' tariffs are what counts.
The basic rule: the promoter reports, in the country of the concert
In Germany the promoter registers the event with GEMA, not the musicians (GEMA). A choir that gives its own concerts registers all of them, with and without admission (GEMA choir page). Austria sees it the same way: the promoter is whoever holds the event and appears as such towards authorities and the public; engaged music groups need not deal with registration (AKM). In Switzerland the licence is obtained by whoever is economically responsible, meaning signs the contracts, bears the costs and takes the income (SUISA). In the UK and Ireland the venue often holds the licence: IMRO places the primary duty on the proprietor of the premises, with the promoter as alternative (IMRO Tariff LC), and Making Music advises groups to ask the venue first (Making Music).
Across the border the territorial principle applies: the sister society in the country of use licenses under its own tariffs and forwards the royalties to the authors' home society (SUISA). A concert abroad is licensed through the local promoter with the local society (SUISA blog); GEMA secures its members' royalties abroad through reciprocal agreements (GEMA). So a British choir singing in Germany ends up with GEMA, a German choir in France with SACEM. There is no dedicated GEMA page for music users on concerts abroad; the rule follows from the sources named.
The three situations on a concert tour
| Situation | Who is the promoter | Who reports | What you provide | Association agreement |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| You sing in the series of a parish, a cultural office, a festival or a spa concert | The host | The host, to the society of their country | Programme with composer, arranger and duration, in good time before the concert | Does not apply: at someone else's event, that person is the promoter and the German Choir Association's blanket agreement does not cover it (DCV, chor-heute) |
| You invite yourselves: hall hired or church made available, your own promotion, your own box office or collection | You | You, to the society of the country where you play, before the concert | Registration with venue, date, capacity, admission; programme afterwards | Home country only: the Austrian Wind Music Association explicitly excludes performances abroad (ÖBV), as does the Dutch KNMO agreement (KNMO); the German Choir Association does not mention performances abroad |
| Joint concert or exchange concert with a local ensemble | Whoever invites and runs the box office, usually the host | The host; with shared takings, fix it in writing | Your part of the programme with all details | The host's agreement applies if they are the promoter and their association does not exclude joint concerts |
What no table says but decides everything: record in writing with your host who the promoter is. GEMA assumes that whoever obtained the licence and did not object is the promoter (GEMA help).
16 countries: deadline, programme, surcharge
The table names, per society, when to register before the concert, when to deliver the programme afterwards, what happens without registration and what applies to amateur ensembles and churches. "Not found" means: not stated on the official page. Amounts and percentages change; the linked source is what counts.
| Country, society | Registration before | Programme after | Without registration | Amateurs, church, charity | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Germany, GEMA | Before the event, no fixed deadline; Tariff E for serious music applies only if consent is obtained in time | Setlist within 6 weeks, otherwise 10 % surcharge | Discounts lapse; without registration calculation by maximum admission times maximum capacity | Tariff E: charity 10 %, unsubsidised concerts 15 % (apply 10 days before); popular music: 15 % for choirs and wind bands; taking part in a service under Tariff WR-G | Tariff E, Tariff U-K |
| Austria, AKM | At least 3 days before, online; at short notice 24 hours | Settlement at the latest 4 weeks after; programme via the association | Performance before the permit counts as unauthorised: double fee plus collection costs | Charity free if all proceeds go to charitable purposes and everyone performs unpaid; liturgical celebrations free | AKM tariff |
| Switzerland, SUISA | Early, no fixed deadline | Details and full programme within 10 days, otherwise CHF 100 | Doubling for performance without permit or repeated non-reporting; with missing details CHF 4.50 per seat | Tariff B: annual flat rate for societies, not with admission above CHF 45; churches (GT C) only for free concerts with their own choirs, guest choirs and admission run under GT K | GT K, GT C |
| France, SACEM | 15 days before earns a 20 % reduction | not found | not found | Éducation populaire 12.5 %, free event without commercial purpose 5 %; church not found | associations.gouv.fr |
| United Kingdom, PRS for Music | not found; many venues hold the licence themselves, ask first | Setlist from venue, promoter or ensemble | not found | Tariff LC 6.5 % of box office, 50 % discount for amateur groups; a purely public-domain programme needs no licence | PRS, Making Music |
| Ireland, IMRO | Before the performance, otherwise the unlicensed rate | Programme within 30 days of month end | 6 instead of 3 % of box office; amateur flat rate 201.16 instead of 134.11 EUR per concert | Amateur flat rate per concert; church not found | Tariff LC |
| Italy, SIAE | Before the concert, deadline not stated; application at the SIAE office or portal | Borderò (programme sheet), returned by the promoter | Additional charges with missing settlement | Own tariff sheets for bands and choirs; special tariffs for associations, church bodies, municipalities | SIAE |
| Spain, SGAE | 30 days before or before ticket sales | Programme and audience figure after the concert | not found | 8.5 % of box office; discounts for repertoire report, association, small halls; amateur and church not found | SGAE |
| Netherlands, Buma/Stemra | Up to 1 month after the concert without surcharge | Setlist with the application | 10 to 20 % late surcharge | Collective agreements KNMO (wind music) and Koornetwerk (choirs) only for performances in the Netherlands | Buma/Stemra |
| Belgium, Sabam/Unisono | At the latest 5 days before | Income within 15 days, playlist within 15 working days | Without playlist assumed over 90 % repertoire plus 15 % administration costs | Own tariff for serious music; federation discounts; church not found | Unisono, Koor&Stem |
| Poland, ZAiKS | Licence agreement before the concert, deadline not stated | Work list (Druk W) | not found | Serious music 10 % with standing contract, otherwise 3 to 15 % by repertoire share; up to 30 % discount for non-profit cultural institutions with amateur ensembles | ZAiKS |
| Czech Republic, OSA | At least 5 days before | Playlist with application or within 15 days | Late: rate times 1.15 | Serious music 8 % up to 80,000 CZK, degressive; collective agreement of the choir union for member choirs | OSA |
| Denmark, Koda | Licence before the concert | Report up to 10 days after | not found on the exact page | Kor72 discount only if the choir is the promoter itself | Koda |
| Sweden, Stim | At least 7 calendar days before, on request | Within 14 days of request | Additional fee | 2026: 4 % of ticket price, free concert 5.28 SEK per visitor; services, weddings, funerals exempt from reporting | Stim |
| Norway, TONO | Licence before the concert | Within 14 days: income, audience, repertoire | not found | 10 % of gross income up to 23,317 NOK, minimum 842 NOK; church concert with collection at the minimum rate | TONO |
| Finland, Teosto | Licence once, then report every concert | 3 % discount for reporting within 14 days | Loss of the discount | Church annual licence does not cover guest choirs or concerts with admission; at someone else's event the choir reports only the works | Teosto |
What association agreements cover and what they do not
The German Choir Association has had a blanket agreement for all its member associations since 1 January 2025: choir concerts with and without admission, social events, Christmas markets, open-air concerts; the report must be filed in the GEMA portal at the latest 21 calendar days after the event, the setlist within six weeks (DCV). For wind music there is no nationwide flat rate but a 20 % discount plus a 15 % culture rebate and framework agreements per state association (BDMV, BDB). None of these agreements says anything about performances abroad; the Austrian ÖBV per-head rate and the Dutch KNMO agreement exclude them explicitly. For the concert tour that means: in the host country the local promoter pays and reports under their tariff, or you do, if you invite yourselves. The same logic applies in the other direction: a British group's Making Music umbrella licence covers member groups performing in unlicensed venues in the UK (Making Music), not a concert in Germany.
Churches: the blanket agreement of the Protestant Church in Germany covers services, church concerts and parish events, but not concerts with ticket sales by outside promoters (EKiR). GEMA lists as requiring registration: concerts by outside promoters and guest choirs, and concerts with admission (GEMA church page). The Catholic blanket agreement for events ended on 1 January 2024, parishes have registered concerts individually since; the agreement for services continues (GEMA). A guest choir giving a concert with admission in a German church is therefore not covered by the church agreement; who reports depends on who the promoter is. Taking part in a service without admission, by contrast, runs under the churches' flat rates for services. Finland draws the same line: the church annual licence excludes guest choirs and concerts with admission.
Public-domain programmes: no royalty, but proof
If all authors have been dead for at least 70 years, registration is not required; arrangements, however, are protected for another 70 years (GEMA choir page). In practice GEMA asks for the setlist with full author names for checking, even with public-domain music (GEMA wind bands), because under the GEMA presumption the user has to prove that only unrepresented works were performed (GEMA). Tariff E gives a 25 % discount with at most two protected works and 50 % with only one. SUISA charges nothing for a public-domain programme but wants the full repertoire; Teosto wants public-domain works listed in the report too; in the UK a purely public-domain programme needs no PRS licence. Beware of editions: scholarly and first editions are separately protected under German law, handled by VG Musikedition (VDKC).
Six points for the agreement with your host
- Fix the promoter in writing. One sentence in the guest performance agreement: who invites, who runs the box office, who reports to the collecting society.
- Deliver the complete programme. Title, composer, arranger, duration, usually at the latest with the final confirmation six to eight weeks before; the societies require it after the concert within 10 days (Switzerland), 15 working days (Belgium) or 6 weeks (Germany).
- Know the country's deadline. Spain 30 days before, France 15 days for the discount, Belgium and the Czech Republic 5 days, Austria 3 days, Sweden 7 days on request.
- Note admission, collection, contribution towards costs. Most tariffs calculate by box office or capacity; the collection at a church concert counts towards the minimum rate in Norway, in Germany the promoter status decides.
- Check the association agreement. Does it apply abroad (usually no), at someone else's event (no), for joint concerts (ask).
- Do not wait for the surcharge. Without registration you pay double in Austria, double or CHF 4.50 per seat in Switzerland, the double rate in Ireland, and in Germany the discounts lapse and the setlist costs 10 % more.
Frequently asked questions
We sing in a church service abroad. Do we have to report anything?
Usually not you: the parish is the promoter, and services are covered by flat rates or exempt in many countries (Germany Tariff WR-G, Austria liturgical celebrations free, Sweden exempt from reporting). Give the parish your programme with composers anyway, so they can file their report.
Our association has a blanket agreement with our home society. Does it apply on tour in Italy?
According to the published agreements, no: they settle the royalties to your home society for events you promote yourselves at home. In Italy SIAE licenses under its tariffs, reported by the Italian promoter or by you if you invite yourselves. Ask your association whether it knows a rule for abroad; none is named in the association sources.
We only sing Bach and Mozart. Do we still have to report?
No royalty is due for a purely public-domain programme. The societies want to see that it is so, though: in Germany the setlist with author names, in Switzerland and Finland the full repertoire. Arrangements and protected editions are the typical traps.
The host says they take care of everything. Is that enough?
If they are the promoter, yes. Have it confirmed in writing and deliver your programme in time. If you still receive an invoice, you can object through the society's portal and name the promoter.
Request venues
With every suggestion from concertbase you see who acts as promoter at the venue and which model (collection, contribution towards costs, hire) applies. Describe route, line-up and dates and we suggest matching venues, usually within two working days: Planning a concert tour.
Not legal advice. All details without guarantee, retrieved on 8 September 2026 from the linked pages of the societies, associations and churches. Tariffs and deadlines change; the current version at the publisher is what counts.