Harald Heker (born March 1, 1958) is the Chief Executive Officer of
GEMA, the leading German
performance rights organization
A performance rights organisation (PRO), also known as a performing rights society, provides intermediary functions, particularly collection of royalties, between copyright holders and parties who wish to use copyrighted works ''publicly'' in loc ...
based in
Berlin
Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...
and
Munich
Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...
. He has served as CEO since 2007.
Biography
Born in
Essen
Essen (; Latin: ''Assindia'') is the central and, after Dortmund, second-largest city of the Ruhr, the largest urban area in Germany. Its population of makes it the fourth-largest city of North Rhine-Westphalia after Cologne, Düsseldorf and D ...
, Heker studied law at the
University of Munich and obtained his Ph.D. at the
University of Freiburg
The University of Freiburg (colloquially german: Uni Freiburg), officially the Albert Ludwig University of Freiburg (german: Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg), is a public university, public research university located in Freiburg im Breisg ...
. He also obtained an LL.M. degree at
Princeton University
Princeton University is a private university, private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial Colleges, fourth-oldest ins ...
. The topic of his thesis was: The legal and technological battle in the music industry.
From 1988 to 1990 Heker worked as a lawyer and director of the Institute of Copyright and Media Law in Munich. From 1990 to 2000 he worked as a legal adviser to the German Booksellers` Association. Between 2001 and 2005 Heker was Chief Executive Officer of the Association.
Heker joined the GEMA in 2006, and became the Chief Executive Officer in 2007. The GEMA had to reposition itself. A high percentage of the music content is now distributed via the Internet. A legal conflict with the
Video sharing
An online video platform (OVP), provided by a video hosting service, enables users to upload, convert, store and play back video content on the Internet, often via a structured, large-scale system that may generate revenue. Users will generally u ...
website
YouTube
YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...
was the result.
External links
The GEMA Executive Board''(in English)''
Profile at mediabiz.de''(in German)''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Heker, Harald
1958 births
Living people
German chief executives