We are our members. We stand up for every single musician.
Everyone loves music, and we also love those who create that magic in the first place: the authors and publishers. Music doesn’t just come from the radio, the internet or your smartphone. Music is hard work – for composers, authors and music publishers. For our part, we pass on the money to the authors that organizers, companies, radio operators, etc. pay to use the works. This is how we ensure that musicians can make a living from their work.
AKM ensures that music authors and music publishers receive compensation when their music is played at concerts, events, clubs, etc., used as background music in cafés, restaurants, shopping centers, etc., broadcast on radio or television or made available on the internet.
Austro mechana ensures that music authors and music publishers get their “mechanical rights”. This means your share of the sales proceeds from audio and video recordings as well as the royalties for the reproduction of your works. It also collects and distributes the private copying levy.
We not only represent the world repertoire, but can also offer our Austrian customers the rights to it. No matter what area you come from — from the event industry, sound carrier and video production, radio and television, online business, production/import of blank storage media, etc.
AKM and austro mechana are collecting societies and are therefore subject to the Collecting Societies Act (VerwGesG). The Inspectorate for Collecting Societies thus monitors and audits what we do.
AKM and austro mechana are neither a bureau nor a state authority of any kind: we are non-profit collecting societies and as such, we belong to Austrian composers, music lyricists and music publishers. This means: we are the rights holders and we also organize ourselves accordingly. Our bodies are made up exclusively of authors, composers and music publishers who do the decision-making on all essential matters, such as annual financial statements, distribution rules, overall contracts, budgets, etc.
The AKM is organized as a cooperative. The statute of the AKM represents, so to speak, the constitution of the AKM.
The general meeting of members consists of all full members (=cooperative members). It meets once a year for the ordinary general meeting.
The most important competencies of the general meeting of members include the elections of the board of directors and the supervisory board and other AKM committees, the approval of the annual financial statements, the amendment of the statutes, and the resolution on the guidelines for cultural institutions.
The supervisory board consists of six full members, two each from the Curia of Composers, the Curia of Authors and the Curia of Music Publishers; these are elected every five years by the general meeting of members. The supervisory board elects its chairperson and a first and second deputy. Furthermore, due to legal regulations, the supervisory board includes representatives of AKM’s employees.
Kurt Brunthaler
Composers Curia
Richard Dünser
Chairman, Composers Curia
Peter Hrncirik
Authors Curia
Werner Marinell
2nd deputy Chairman, Authors Curia
Helmuth Pany
1st deputy Chairman, Publishers Curia
Maria Teuchmann
Publishers Curia
Heinz Manfreda
Financial expert
President, Composers Curia
Vice President, Publishers Curia
Vice President, Authors Curia
Vice President, Composers Curia
Publishers Curia
Authors Curia
Composers Curia
Publishers Curia
Authors Curia
ComposersCuria
Publishers Curia
Authors Curia
The board consists of twelve full members, four each from the Curia of Composers, the Curia of Authors and the Curia of Music Publishers. The board members are elected every five years by the general meeting of members. The general meeting of members elects a president and three vice-presidents from among the board members, who together form the executive committee.
Gernot Graninger
General Director
Christian Brunthaler
Peter Havlicek
Georg Heckermann
Stephan Herzog
Peter Jägersberger
Michael W. Krausz
Harald Lakits
Peter Legat
Gary Lux
Lois Manzl
Rens Nieuwland
Gustav Seemann
Regina Steinmetz
Christian Zierhofer
Alexander Blechinger
Victor Gangl
Johannes Hintersteiner
Christian Skokan
Georg Strzyzowski
Kurt Brunthaler
Richard Dünser
Gerhard Heinz
Paul Hertel
Peter Janda
Wolfgang Mitterer
Wolfgang Stanicek
Alexander Blechinger
Thomas Doss
Peter Havlicek
Alois Manzl
Helmuth Pany
Christian Skokan
Peter Werba
Members of the AKM who are not full members (cooperative members) of the AKM, but who are solely connected to the AKM through a management agreement, are referred to as royalty recipients.
At the meeting of those entitled to royalties which takes place prior to each general meeting of members, these people can elect delegates from their ranks. The delegates are allowed to take part in the general meeting of members with an advisory capacity, and on some matters, they are fully entitled to have a say.
Authors Curia
Michael Streiter
Piotr Veits
Composers Curia
Morgana Petrik
Jess Robin
Publishers Curia
Rosita S. Romano
All-round music
Jürgen Distler
Ink Music
austro mechana is a limited liability company and a subsidiary of AKM. The articles of association regulate the principles and responsibilities at austro mechana.
The managing director of austro mechana is Gernot Graninger, who is also the general director of AKM.
The supervisory board is appointed by the general meeting of members. It consists of two composers, a publisher and an author. Furthermore, due to legal regulations, representatives of the employees of austro mechana belong to the supervisory board.
Johann Ecker
Author
Paul Hertel
Composer
Edith Michaela
Krupka-Dornaus
Publisher
Peter Vieweger
Composer
Two representatives of the employees of austro mechana.
When you join AKM, you will initially be accepted as a member entitled to receive royalties.
If certain requirements are met, members entitled to receive royalties can become cooperative members (full members) of AKM at a later date. The requirements are standardized in the guidelines for full cooperative membership for authors and for music publishers respectively.
An informal but written request must be sent to the AKM board. This must also indicate which curia (composers, authors, music publishers) you want to be admitted to as a full member.
Full members are allowed to take part in the general meetings of AKM and are entitled to vote in these meetings.
Note: For royalty distribution, it makes no difference whether a member of AKM is a full member or a royalty recipient. Full membership is not required for receiving social benefits, such as the retirement benefit.
The Copyright Act (UrhG) is something like the Magna Carta for creative people. It stipulates that only the author decides what can happen to his or her creative work. However, authors can also entrust other people with granting these permissions: in the area of musical copyrights, these are usually collecting societies. In some cases, authors are also represented by publishers, e.g. for filming rights or stage performances.