Music played in public earns money for the people who wrote and recorded it. Collecting societies exist because no songwriter can invoice every venue, radio station and shop in a country.
How it works
A society licenses the users of music: broadcasters, venues, festivals, streaming services. It collects a fee, usually a percentage of ticket income or a tariff per event, and distributes it to members based on what was reported as played.
Who they are in Europe
- Netherlands: Buma/Stemra for authors, Sena for performers and producers.
- UK: PRS for Music, and PPL.
- Germany: GEMA, and GVL.
- France: SACEM, and SPRE.
- Belgium: Sabam, and PlayRight.
Most countries run one society for writers and a separate one for performers, with reciprocal deals so foreign plays reach the artist through its home society.
What an artist has to do
Join, register every work with its writers and their splits, and file a performance report after shows. Plays that go unreported are paid out on other data, and the artist's share disappears into it.