Music Licensing for Business in Belgium
Playing music in a business is a little different from listening to music at home. Since you're playing for an audience with a business and commercial purpose, you will need a license from Unisono.
Music Licenses in Belgium
Businesses need three different rights to legally play music in their physical venue.
Recording Rights
Recording Rights
This covers the right to use a specific recording of a song and compensates the recording artist.
Publishing Rights
Publishing Rights
This covers the right to use the original composition and compensates the songwriters and composers.
Public Performance Rights
Public Performance Rights
This allows you to play the song in a public environment.
Soundtrack Your Brand covers the first two licenses, and in Belgium, public performance licenses are obtained through SABAM and managed online through Unisono.
For information on music licensing in another country, please click here.
The Value of Soundtrack
We offer a licensed music service for commercial use, with great features such as scheduling tools and an explicit filter.
Soundtrack Your Brand is able to provide this via direct relationships with publishers, performing rights organizations and record labels (including Universal Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment, Warner Music Group and more).
Our technology allows royalties to be fairly and accurately distributed back to music creators. Our Unlimited tier provides royalty payments that are approximately 5 times higher than those from streaming services for private use.
Unsupported Services
Services such as Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube Music, Amazon Music, Tidal and Deezer are not suitable for use in business. These platforms are for personal, private use only - it is not legal to use them when playing music to an audience and you could risk being faced with a fine.
Steps to become fully licensed in Belgium
1) Trial Soundtrack
Start our 14 day free trial to use our properly licensed business music service immediately. No payment or commitment required.
2) Get a Public Performance License
If you don't have a license from SABAM through Unisono, please visit Unisono's website to your license.
3) Subscribe to Soundtrack
Select a plan and add your payment details to officially join Soundtrack.
More Information about Music Licensing in Belgium
Overview
Music licensing in Belgium is similar to the UK, Finland and the Netherlands, in that businesses are able to organize their music license with one central company. SABAM, PlayRight and SIMIM set up Unisono so that Belgian companies could use music legally without having to handle each organization separately.
Behind the scenes, each organization has its differences. SABAM focuses on collecting royalties from the use of music, PlayRight focuses on collecting royalties for performances and phonograms, and SIMIM focuses on distributing those royalties to the copyright holders.
Contact
History
SABAM stands for Société d'Auteurs, compositeurs et Editeurs Belges et Luxembourgeois, or the Belgian and Luxembourgish Society of Authors, Composers, and Publishers. As the oldest PRO in Belgium, it represents over 23,000 musical creators and has more than 41,000 members.
PlayRight was set up by a group of musicians in 1974, who wanted to claim their neighbouring rights as performers. After the Copyright and Neighbouring Rights Act was introduced in 1994, the organization was able to start collecting royalties.
SIMIM stands for the Société de l'Industrie Musicale - MuziekIndustrie Maatschappij. It was launched in 1995, with the goal of managing neighboring rights for music producers.
Unisono was introduced in 2020, as a collaborative effort from SABAM, PlayRight and SIMIM.
How to get a license in Belgium
The Unisono website offers the chance to 'simulate' a music license, so that businesses can learn more before moving forward with the purchase.
Following that optional stage, it is possible to apply for the license online. There is also a contact form available, should there be any questions throughout the process.