The recent CISAC conference in Washington DC witnessed two crucial appointments.
Georg Oeller appointed BIEM president GEMA executive board member Georg Oeller was elected President of the management committee of the general assembly of BIEM (Bureau International des Sociétés gérant les Droits d’Enregistrement et de Reproduction Mécanique) on June 7, 2013 in Washington D.C. At the same time, Karl-Heinz Klempnow was appointed Vice President of the general assembly.
Oeller succeeds Thierry Desurmont (SACEM/SDRM), who had held the position since 2009. The election of a new president was timed to coincide with restructuring at the umbrella organization. In future, the functions of President and Secretary General will be amalgamated, and Oeller will take on both roles in a voluntary capacity. The structural reform aims to take into account the difficulties the music industry is facing and to concentrate BIEM’s activities on exploiting music on physical data storage devices.
Harald Heker, chairman of GEMA’s executive board, said: “I am delighted that my fellow board member Georg Oeller, an expert in licensing and distributing mechanical rights, has been elected to the top of the international organization representing mechanical rights societies. With Karl-Heinz Klempnow appointed the general assembly’s Vice President as well, GEMA board members now hold two influential positions within BIEM and can play a defining role in its future. These appointments are a huge vote of confidence in the work being done by GEMA from our counterpart organizations around the world, and send an important signal to music makers in Germany.”BIEM was founded in 1929 and represents 52 organizations working in mechanical reproduction rights across 56 countries. (www.biem.org)
GEMA represents in Germany the copyrights of more than 65,000 members (composers, lyricists, and music publishers), as well as over two million copyright holders all over the world. It is one of the largest societies of authors for musical works.