What does music in a shop cost in 2026?
Updated
The short answer That depends on your shop. Choose your floor area and number of staff below and you see straight away what you pay a year in Buma/Stemra and Sena fees, and what you save with RadioMatic.
Without that bill RadioMatic’s music is made entirely with AI. You play music without Buma and Sena from € 29.99 a month.
Work out what music in your shop costs
Three questions, and you see what you now spend on Buma/Stemra, Sena and your music service.
How big is your business?
Music in your shop, without Buma and Sena
- A station of your own. The best music in your business every day, and the station remembers your hits.
- We handle your switch. After your trial we cancel Buma/Stemra, Sena and your old music service for you, free of charge. How the switching service works.
- Just atmosphere music, or a complete business radio. With a presenter who mentions your business by name, news and your own adverts, if you want.
- Works on what is already there. Sonos, Chromecast, a browser or the line-in of your amplifier.
- 14 days free. A reply within one working day and live in under ten minutes.
From € 29.99 per location per month. What you now pay Buma/Stemra and Sena goes, and so does your current music subscription.
What does music in a shop cost per year?
Buma/Stemra works in floor-area brackets, such as up to a hundred square metres, up to two hundred, and so on (background music tariff sheet, category B). Sena charges an ordinary shop not per square metre but per member of staff who can hear the music, in brackets of up to five, up to ten, and so on (2026 tariff overview, Sales areas I).
Count only the area where the music can be heard, not your whole floor. A stockroom without speakers does not count. A display window or fitting room where you can hear the music does.
If you run a supermarket, department store or DIY store, you fall into a different category with both. The same goes for shopping centres. The rates page sets out the tables per type of business side by side.
Are the levies included in your music subscription?
Usually not. You pay your music supplier for the subscription. Buma/Stemra and Sena charge you separately for the rights. That second bill does not go through your supplier; it lands directly with you.
When you compare quotes, always ask whether the levies are included in the amount or come on top. If they come on top, you are comparing two amounts that are not the same.
What if you have several locations?
Then you pay the levies per location, even where your subscription is per account. With a chain or franchise that adds up quickly. That is exactly where it saves the most when the Buma/Stemra and Sena bill falls away.
Work out at the top what one location costs. Multiply that by the number of sites where music can be heard.
Tariffs: Buma/Stemra and Sena, tariff year 2026, including the RAAP-PPI surcharge. Sources are published on bumastemra.nl and sena.nl. Also used bumastemra.nl, sena.nl.
What it costs with us
With us you pay one amount per location per month, excluding VAT. The music is generated entirely by AI, so there is no composer, no lyricist and no performing artist. Buma/Stemra itself says that such works do not qualify for payment. The same applies to Sena, and we set out our reasoning in our legal memorandum.
In your shop you can feature your own offers between the tracks. The mood follows the part of the day by itself. With several sites, you run them all from one dashboard. And new music is added every day, so your staff do not know every track by heart after a fortnight.
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 |
| Several locations | Set up per location | No | Set up per location | Yes, from one place, each with its own mood |
| Buma/Stemra and Sena | Payable | Payable | See the terms | Not payable |
Questions about music in your shop
Further reading
- What is AI music in a shop, and what does it cost?How it sounds, what it costs against ordinary shop music, and what happens to the levies.
- Can you use Spotify in a business?No, and here is why. Plus what it costs you if you do it anyway.
- Radio on in your business? Then you pay Buma and Sena too.The radio counts like anything else. What it costs, when it does not count, and why TV is a third bill.
- Christmas and New Year music in your shop, what is allowed and what does it cost?Why old carols and Auld Lang Syne are not free, and how to get through the holidays without Buma and Sena.
Ready to hear it for yourself?
Try RadioMatic free for 14 days. Your own station for your business, without Buma/Stemra and Sena, and cancel monthly if you pay monthly.
Rather talk first? Book a 15-minute call