It's not compulsory to be a member of GEMA or any other collection society for the purpose of digital distribution. You don't need to send us a GEMA clearance either. The stores must pay GEMA fees from their share of the profit, i.e. this fee is not deducted from your earnings.
GEMA Shares
GEMA Shares
The stores can NOT identify which artist is registered with a collecting society and which is not. But the collecting societies want to see money. Therefore, the stores pay a lump sum to the collecting societies - from each release sold a share is retained, which flows into the lump sum for the collecting societies.
If you are a member of a collecting society, you get a pro-rata payment for your authorship (which, according to experience, is only really worth it if you have a large number of sales, otherwise you pay higher membership fees to GEMA than you get out in the end).
GEMA payments from the stores are made based on the individuals named as lyricist, composer, and others involved in creating the piece of music. You can add this information in the release process after uploading a song by clicking on "Edit" in the "Tracklist" section.
Please note: When registering your work with GEMA, please indicate not only the artist/performer, but also the International Standard Recording Code (ISRC). This is the only way GEMA can easily assign your work to the music uses.
Your releases will not be automatically registered with GEMA or any other collection society. Please contact GEMA directly for any questions regarding registering your music.