If you use music in a dance piece, a production, your dance lessons or at a barbecue or party, you need to make sure you have complied with the copyright requirements.
You take the following steps:
- For a show: ask permission from the authors
- Check the arrangements at your venue
- Deal with SABAM
- Deal with the Billijke Vergoeding (equitable remuneration)
- Check the music carrier
1. For a show: ask permission from the authors
Are you using music in a show? If so, you need to check whether you need permission from the authors to use the music.
Consider first whether the music is in the public domain (e.g. if all the authors have been dead for more than 70 years) or whether the piece is protected by author’s rights.
If it is protected, you theoretically need to ask the authors’ permission to use their music in your production. To do so, contact the author or their representative or publisher who manages their rights, for example Sabam. You can look up whether Sabam manages the rights for an author or song in its online catalogue.
Show that you do your best to respect the moral rights of the artist. What you can do:
- State the name of the authors and pieces of music on your programme sheet or in the credits
- Don’t change the music or adapt it, speed it up etc.
Are you planning to reproduce the music, e.g. by bringing it out on DVD or putting it on YouTube? In that case it is absolutely essential to obtain permission from the author in question. Find out more here about music online.
2. Check the arrangements at your venue
Authors and performers have the right to payment if you use their music. That is what the management company SABAM (for authors) and equitable renumeration (billijke vergoeding) (for performers) are for.
If you rent or use a space, it is possible that the venue already pays an annual fee to SABAM and/or the equitable remuneration organisation. This is often the case for cultural centres, sports halls etc.
However it may be that your venue has an arrangement with SABAM or the equitable remuneration organisation for a certain purpose (e.g. a café that has background music playing) but not for the event that you want to organise (e.g. a party).
So be sure to check whether your venue has an annual arrangement and whether the activity you are going to organise is covered by that arrangement or not.
It would be a shame to pay double, but getting a fine isn’t much fun either.
3. Deal with SABAM
SABAM is a management company that collects copyright fees from people who use music and pays it to the authors who are members of its organisation and have a right to these fees.
What if your activity is not covered by the venue’s annual arrangement with SABAM? In that case, you will need to pay SABAM yourself.
Rates
SABAM applies various rates for various types of organisation and event. In our sector, the following rates are the ones most commonly applied:
- Tarief 118: Dance schools (including annual fees)
- Tarief 105: Parties (e.g. dance parties, balls etc.)
- Tarief 107: Shows and performances (e.g. performances by dance groups)
- Tarief 122: Dinners, barbecues etc.
If you are in doubt about which rate applies to your organisation or event, it is best to contact Sabam.
Declaration
File your declaration on time, because otherwise you may receive a fine. For events, the deadline for Sabam declaration is 48 hours before.
You can file your declaration online using the e-licensing application on SABAM’s website.
It is sometimes cheaper to file your declaration on paper. For special situations or arrangements, you can also try to make a deal by contacting Sabam directly.
What doesn’t SABAM collect?
- royalties on works by authors who died more than 70 years ago, i.e. work that belongs to the ‘public domain’.
- royalties for authors who are not members of their organisation (or of international partner organisations).
You can look up whether Sabam manages the rights for an author or song in its online catalogue.
Practice teaches us that Sabam will collect author’s rights for your class, event or performance as soon as one song is managed by them.
Sabam will only collect for
- royalties for performers of music (related rights)