Can you have the radio on at work, and what does it cost?
Updated
The short answer Yes, you can have the radio on at work. Dutch health and safety law says nothing about music, so you as the employer decide whether it is allowed and on what terms. The rules on noise do apply. Above a daily dose of 80 dB(A) you have to make hearing protection available.
What it costs As soon as three or more employees can hear the music, you need a Buma/Stemra and Sena licence. For 3 to 10 FTE that is about € 427 a year at the 2026 base rate.
Your own station With RadioMatic you pay from € 29.99 a month, and nothing to Buma and Sena, because the music is made entirely by AI. From Starter up, you won't hear anyone else's adverts in between.
Radio in the workplace, 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 talks about your business between the songs, if you want, and with Professional also news and your own adverts.
- 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 the radio do in the workplace?
In a warehouse, a workshop or a production hall it is quiet between tasks. Music fills those hours. Buma/Stemra even opens its tariff sheet for workspaces with it. "At many companies a radio is on or a PC plays tracks." Often nobody ever actually chose it. For many employers the radio was already there when they started.
There is research behind that experience. Teresa Lesiuk followed 56 software developers at four Canadian companies for five weeks in their own workplace, with and without music of their choice. In the week without music, mood and quality of work were at their lowest, and the work took longest (Psychology of Music, 2005). It is one study in one occupation, though, and the participants chose what they heard themselves.
The downside is just as well researched. Music with lyrics costs you reading comprehension. In an experiment by Sun and colleagues with 90 participants, people scored worse on reading tasks with sung music in the background than in silence. The effect was strongest when the lyrics were in their own language (Frontiers in Psychology, 2024). So a station with Dutch lyrics is less of a disturbance at a packing table than in an open-plan office where people are reading reports.
And one thing is the same in every workplace. Between the tracks on a national station you hear advertising that is not yours every half hour, sometimes even a competitor’s. Your staff hear it all day, and so do any customers or suppliers walking past.
What do the health and safety rules say about music at work?
About music itself, the law says nothing. "Nothing is laid down about playing music in the workplace," writes Arbowetweter (in Dutch). An employer may set rules of their own, because "an employer may determine the rules on listening to music in the workplace on the basis of the right to give instructions". So you can allow music, ban it, or allow it only through headphones.
What the rules do cover is noise. The Working Conditions Decree works with three limits, which the Arboportaal sums up as follows. Above a daily dose of 80 dB(A) the employer has to make hearing protectors available. Above 85 dB(A) employees are obliged to wear them and you have to take measures. The limit value of 87 dB(A) may never be exceeded. That dose covers all noise at the workplace, not the music on its own.
If a hall is already loud without music, the radio adds to a dose that is there anyway. Where hearing protection is compulsory, background music makes little sense. In a quiet office or warehouse you will not reach those limits with background music. There the question is a different one, namely whether people can still hear each other and the forklift.
Arbo Rendement writes that an employer has to take safety into account, because in a busy warehouse employees need to be able to sense everything around them, with their ears as well (Arbo Rendement, in Dutch). Headphones in a space where vehicles move are rarely a good idea, however tidy they look.
What should you agree with your staff?
Music is rarely pleasant for everyone. For one person it relaxes and for another it is a distraction, Arbo Rendement writes. The employer has to take account of the employees who say it bothers them, even if there are only a few of them. If a colleague does not dare to bring it up, ask them yourself.
The agreements that work in practice are small ones. Set out who decides the station and the volume, so that it is not fought over again every morning. Agree that the music goes off or down during meetings, phone calls and work where things can go wrong. Give people who are reading or calculating a quiet place, or allow headphones there. Arbo Rendement calls personal headphones an alternative, with the drawback that it cuts someone off from the rest.
Also watch who is listening in without being on the payroll. If customers, visitors or suppliers come in, the space is no longer a closed workspace. Then different rules apply, including for the bill. How that works out for a reception or showroom is on Music in the office.
Then the messages between the tracks. A radio station is one-way traffic. An announcement for staff, a safety reminder or the message that the bus leaves at four has no place in it. Systems that combine music and spoken messages do exist. Shops use them as in-store radio, and they work just as well in a warehouse. See Retail radio and in-store radio.
When do you pay for music at work, and how much?
For a non-public workspace it comes down to one number. Mijnlicentie, the joint collection service of Buma/Stemra and Sena, writes that a licence is needed for music audible "for three or more employees in non-public spaces (such as canteens, warehouses and offices)". If at most two people hear it and no customers come in, you owe nothing.
From three employees the tariff goes by the number of staff who can hear the music. For 3 to 10 staff that is about € 427 a year together at the base tariff in 2026 for Buma/Stemra and Sena (workspaces tariff sheet and 2026 tariff overview). If more people work there, the amount goes up. Work out below what it is for your company.
Register of your own accord and pay on time, and you get up to 33.33% off. For 3 to 10 staff that brings it to about € 285 a year. The tables per type of space, including the canteen that is charged per square metre, are on Music in the office. The tariffs per sector are on the tariffs page. Work out what it is for your company below.
Only switching on the radio changes nothing. The fee is attached to playing music to people, not to the source. The station only pays for broadcasting. See Radio or TV on in your business. Which routes there are to play music without those two bills is on Music without Buma and Sena.
Sources: Arbowetweter, music in the workplace, Arboportaal, what the law says about noise, the Dutch Working Conditions Decree, Arbo Rendement on making agreements, Mijnlicentie, do I need a music licence, the Buma/Stemra workspaces tariff sheet and Sena 2026 tariff overview, all in Dutch, plus Lesiuk, Psychology of Music 2005 and Sun et al., Frontiers in Psychology 2024. Amounts are base tariffs per year unless the discount is mentioned; Buma/Stemra excluding VAT, Sena including the 26.6% surcharge. Consulted on 22 September 2026. This is information, not legal advice. Also used ECLI:NL:RBGEL:2025:6175.
Work out what you save
Three questions, and you see what you now spend on Buma/Stemra, Sena and your music service.
What kind of business do you have?
Your own station for the workplace
With RadioMatic each location gets its own station. You set the mood per part of the day, calmer in the morning and more tempo when it gets busy. With Professional you also put your own announcements between the tracks, such as a safety reminder, the message that the canteen is open or a thank you for a target reached. You type them into the dashboard, and nothing has to be recorded in a studio. If you would rather have music only, you switch off the DJ moments and local news.
From Starter upwards it is advertising-free. So you no longer play another company’s message on your own floor. It runs on what is already there, through Sonos, Chromecast, a browser or line-in on the amplifier or PA. No new equipment has to go in.
The music is generated entirely by AI. Buma itself says that works made entirely by AI without a human creative contribution do not qualify for copyright or payment. The same applies to Sena. Sena can only collect for a recording that has been commercially released, and on that ground Sena lost in court in 2025. The full reasoning is in our legal memorandum. Starter costs € 29.99 per location per month, excluding VAT. Paying monthly is 20% more. See the pricing.
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 Professional, no studio |
| Local news and weather | No | Yes, the station’s | No | Yes, with Professional, your town |
| 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 radio in the workplace
Further reading
- Music in the office. When do you have to pay?From three employees who can hear it. What it costs per FTE, and why reception counts differently.
- 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.
- Can you use Spotify in a business?No, and here is why. Plus what it costs you if you do it anyway.
- What is the difference between Buma, Stemra and Sena?Three names, two bills, and what you pay to whom.
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.
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