What music suits your hotel, and what do you pay for it?
Updated
A hotel in the Netherlands pays for music in two ways, for the public spaces and for the rooms. The lobby, the breakfast room and the bar fall under the Buma/Stemra and Sena hospitality tariff, per square metre where the music can be heard. Radio and music in the rooms counts as transmission. For that, both charge a separate tariff based on the number of rooms. If you also offer TV in the rooms, you pay Videma on top, just over € 43 per room per year after discount in 2026. With RadioMatic you pay nothing to Buma and Sena, because the music is generated entirely by AI and there are therefore no rightsholders.
What music fits where in your hotel?
Every space in your hotel asks for something different. In the lobby, music makes the first impression and masks what is said at the desk. In the breakfast room guests have only just woken up, so calm and not too loud. In the bar it can be warmer and fuller in the evening. In the lift and corridors a soft carry-over from the lobby is enough.
For the levies, Buma/Stemra counts hotels as hospitality (in Dutch). The tariff depends on the floor area where the music can be heard. If you play the same music in several spaces, the square metres are added together. If you play something different in each space, you pay for each space separately.
A breakfast room open only to hotel guests counts just the same. Guests are the public, even when they hold a room key.
Do you also pay for radio in the rooms?
Yes. Music your hotel passes on to the rooms, by radio, a channel on the TV or its own system, is called transmission. Buma/Stemra and Sena each have their own tariff for it, separate from the hospitality tariff.
Buma/Stemra charges 3% of what your guests pay for that transmission, with a minimum per year. If you do not charge for it separately, in practice you pay that minimum. For 2026 it is € 94.85 up to 50 connections, € 189.70 up to 100, € 284.55 up to 150 and € 379.40 up to 200, plus € 94.85 for every 50 connections above that (Buma/Stemra, central transmission tariff).
Sena charges by the number of rooms that music can be passed on to. With the RAAP-PPI surcharge of 26.6%, the base tariff in 2026 is around € 124 up to 50 rooms, € 247 up to 100, € 371 up to 150 and € 495 up to 200 (Sena, 2026 tariff overview). Why those are two bills is explained on the difference between Buma/Stemra and Sena.
TV in the rooms is a third bill
TV programmes do not fall under Buma/Stemra or Sena but under Videma. If your guests can watch TV in their room, you pay a fixed amount per room. In 2026 that is € 43.38 per room per year after discount for 1 to 24 rooms, falling to € 41.75 for 500 rooms or more. Without the discount it is just over € 62 to € 65 per room (Videma, hotels, in Dutch).
If there is a TV in the lobby or at reception, € 145.98 per space comes on top, or € 218.86 without the discount. For a TV in the bar, Videma charges by floor area. Pay channels such as ESPN, Viaplay and Ziggo Sport are not covered by the Videma licence.
If you are a member of Koninklijke Horeca Nederland, the Dutch hospitality association, you get an extra discount. KHN states 17% at Buma, on top of the discount for registering yourself and paying on time (KHN, in Dutch), and Videma states 12% for members of KHN or VCHO.
What does it cost for a hotel with 80 rooms?
Take a hotel with 80 rooms, radio and TV in the rooms, and a lobby, breakfast room and bar of 200 m² in total where the same music plays. In 2026 the hospitality spaces cost around € 2,764 a year to Buma/Stemra and Sena together. Transmission to the rooms costs € 189.70 at Buma/Stemra and around € 247 at Sena. Together that is around € 3,200 in base tariff for music.
Videma comes on top for the TV, around € 3,438 a year after discount for 80 rooms. If you register yourself, the music part comes out up to a third lower.
The calculator below works out the hospitality part. How that tariff works is on music in hospitality. Add the rooms yourself using the amounts above. If an invoice does not match your number of rooms or your floor area, read what to do with a letter from Mijnlicentie.
Sources: Buma/Stemra, 2026 hospitality tariff, Buma/Stemra, 2026 central transmission tariff, Sena, 2026 tariff overview, Videma, hotels and other accommodation, KHN, Buma discount, all in Dutch. Amounts per year; Buma/Stemra and Videma excluding VAT, Sena exempt from VAT and including the RAAP-PPI surcharge of 26.6%. Consulted on 22 September 2026.
Work out what you save on your current licence.
Slide in your situation and you will see what you currently pay in music rights every year. That amount disappears, on top of what you save on your current music subscription.
What it costs with us
With us you pay one amount per location per month for the lobby, the breakfast room and the bar. Each space gets a mood of its own, and you run them all from one dashboard. The music is generated entirely by AI. Buma/Stemra itself says that works made entirely by AI without a human creative contribution do not qualify for registration, copyright or payment (in Dutch). The same applies to Sena. The law requires a phonogram released for commercial purposes, and on that ground Sena lost in court in 2025. The full reasoning is in our legal memorandum.
The breakfast room sounds calm in the morning, the bar warmer in the evening. DJ moments mention your hotel by name, and between tracks you can announce breakfast times, the restaurant or the spa. In a chain, every property has its own mood. It plays on existing equipment, such as Sonos, Chromecast or the line-in on your amplifier. Nothing changes for TV in the rooms, because Videma remains due for that.
Read the legal reasoningWhy RadioMatic is something other than a playlist or the radio
A business owner who wants music on the premises usually picks from three things. A playlist from a streaming service, an ordinary radio station, or a royalty-free music package. This is where they differ.
| Playlist | Ordinary radio | Royalty-free | RadioMatic | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| New music | Fixed list | Yes, but not your choice | Limited catalogue | New every day |
| Music that is yours alone | No | No | No | Yes, your own hits |
| Fits the time of day | Switch it yourself | No | Switch it yourself | Automatic |
| Names your business | No | No | No | Yes |
| Your own offers | No | Only if you buy advertising | No | Yes, with no studio |
| Local news and weather | No | Yes, the station’s | No | Yes, your town, your choice of topics |
| Other people’s adverts | No | Yes | No | No |
| Buma/Stemra and Sena | Payable | Payable | See the terms | Not payable |
New music every day
The station keeps getting new tracks in the same style, because the music is generated rather than drawn from a fixed list. A track that lands well with your audience comes round more often, and then it is your hit. It was made for your station and plays nowhere else.
It names your business
Between the tracks, DJ voices announce what is going on at your place. Your offer, your opening hours, this week’s deal. That used to need a studio and a voice actor.
It moves with the day
The morning, the rush and the last hour each call for something different. That is set per part of the day and happens by itself, with nobody behind the counter picking a new list.
Local news if you want it
A short bulletin on the hour about your own town, with the weather and the traffic alongside. You choose which subjects you want, or you switch it off entirely.
No one else’s advertising
On an ordinary station the business down the road advertises in between your tracks. With us, nothing comes in between that is not yours.
Every location from one screen
Each site keeps its own mood, its own promotions and its own opening hours, and you run them all from the same place.
A playlist is worn out within two weeks, and on an ordinary station the business down the road advertises in between your tracks. With us the station is yours. Your style, your announcements, and the tracks that land with your audience come round more often.
Questions that come with this
Further reading
- Music in the waiting room. Do you have to pay, and what fits?For dentists, physiotherapists and GPs. What you pay, and how music shields conversations at the desk.
- Music in the office and the canteen. When do you have to pay?From three employees who can hear it. What it costs per FTE, and why reception counts differently.
- Can you have the radio on at work, and what does it cost?Dutch health and safety law says nothing about music, so you set the rules. What to agree with your team, and from which employee you pay.
- Music in the gym. What does it cost in Buma and Sena fees?Sena has its own rate for gyms, and group classes are counted separately.
Ready to hear it for yourself?
Request access to the beta. Your own station for your business, 14 days free trial, and monthly cancellation if you pay monthly.