Handout and video recording: Summary of the VG Bild-Kunst event of January 31, 2022

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More is more ! It's about money.

What's new at VG-Bild Kunst?
How does the remuneration work?
How do I actually report?

Why is the transfer of voting rights at the professional group meeting important for us?

Summary of the event event by the bildungswerk des bbk berlin and the bbk berlin, January 31, 2022.

Concept and implementation: Martin Zellerhoff and Susanne Kutter
Moderator: Wibke Behrens

Video recording on YouTube (in German only)

What is VG Bild-Kunst?

The association was founded in 1968 and has 65,000 members, 15,000 of whom are artists.

VG Bild-Kunst represents the copyrights for all authors, regardless of whether they are members of VG Bild-Kunst or not. The authors cannot reclaim the rights themselves and, for example, collect funds themselves directly from the users of the work.

On behalf of the authors, VG Bild-Kunst collects flat-rate fees from industrial companies that manufacture or operate devices with which copies can be made as compensation for the permitted use of works. (computers, mobile phones, hard drives, copiers...)

This income is compensation for so-called permitted uses of works.

The main permitted uses are:

  • Private copies (legal copies of works for private, i.e. non-commercial and non-public use)
  • Current reports
  • Freedom of panorama (enables copyrighted works, for example on buildings, architectural art or art in public spaces, which can be seen from public transport routes, to be shown without the author's permission having to be sought.)

VG Bild-Kunst does not collect any flat-rate fees from museums or galleries.

Important: Only those who become members of VG Bild-Kunst can receive their share of these taxes.

VG Bild-Kunst represents additional rights for artists:
the reproduction right and the resale right, which, however, rarely bring anything for the majority of artists.