Since the 2014 EU directive on collective management organziations and the 2016 Collecting Societies Act (VGG) implementing it, entered into force, German collective management organizations (CMO) have been required to adapt their internal membership and participation structures to the new legal situation. German CMOs are mostly heterogeneous associations of right holders from different industry and professional groups. Florian Eckert uses the statutes of the four German CMOs GEMA, VG Wort, VG Bild-Kunst and GVL to compare the effects of this new legislation on the internal structures of these organizations. At the same time, the similarities and differences between the CMOs are examined and the power structures resulting from their internal regulations are analyzed. One focus of the study is the position of publishers within the CMOs, which has often been called into question since the ECJ Reprobel and BGH Verlegeranteil jurisprudence.