Background music in the car park, without Buma and Sena
If you manage a car park, you pay Buma/Stemra and Sena for music that sells nothing. How much, you work out below. With RadioMatic you pay nothing to Buma/Stemra and Sena, because the music is made entirely with AI.
With RadioMatic from € 29.99 per location per month, without Buma and Sena. News and your own announcements with Professional. See all plans
What do you pay now for music in your car park?
Three questions, and you see what you now spend on Buma/Stemra, Sena and your music service.
How big is your business?
What else you get
Music for someone walking alone In a car park the music does not have to sell anything. It is there for the person walking to their car alone between two concrete columns at half past ten at night. In a silent, empty car park every footstep becomes an event. A soft, continuous layer of sound takes the edge off that. That is why there is no third-party advertising in it and no broadcaster that changes tone every fifteen minutes.
Your own messages in between Between the music you place your own messages, about the closing time, how the payment machine works, where the charging bays are, which exit is closed this week or how to walk to the town centre. You type it in and it is there on the next round, in the voice you pick. For an announcement that cannot wait, your own microphone keeps working.
More car parks, one account If you manage more car parks, they sit under one account. You set per location what plays, at what times and with which messages. A car park under a shopping centre can hear something other during the day than a park and ride site on the edge of town.
What does music in a car park cost in Buma and Sena payments?
Car parks are named outright For a car park it is clearly set out. Buma/Stemra names car parks literally in the favourable category, alongside petrol stations, waiting areas without a hospitality facility and swimming pools and saunas among others. Buma charges by floor area, and above the highest bracket the tariff keeps stepping up.
Sena comes out higher here Sena has its own table for car parks, also by the square metre. What surprises managers is that Sena comes out higher than Buma here, while in most trades it is the other way round. Watch what counts as well. Both look at the space in which the music can be heard.
Which metres count If your stream also plays in the stairwells, by the lifts, in the entrance hall and along the walking routes, those metres count. If your car park sits under a shopping centre or a DIY store, it is not obvious which space belongs to which operation. Put that layout to them in writing and keep the answer.
No fees for AI-made music With RadioMatic you pay nothing to Buma/Stemra or Sena, because the music is made entirely with AI. Buma/Stemra itself says that music made entirely by AI, without a creative contribution from a person, does not qualify for copyright or payment.
What the law and the court say 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.
| Buma/Stemra | € 996 |
|---|---|
| Sena, including the RAAP-PPI surcharge | € 1,226 |
| Together per year | € 2,222 |
Sources: Buma/Stemra, mechanical background music, 2026 prices, Buma/Stemra, binding tariff text BUM.129.26/01, article 7 and article 8, Sena, 2026 tariff overview, car parks on p. 9, mijnlicentie.nl. Article 7 of BUM.129.26/01 names car parks in so many words in the list for category B, and above the highest bracket a surcharge is added for every 1,600 m² or part thereof. Sena charges in its own table for car parks on page 9 of the tariff overview, which likewise charges by the square metre and which, with the RAAP-PPI surcharge, comes out above the Buma amount. Article 8 of BUM.129.26/01 adds floor areas within one building or establishment together when the same music from the same sound source plays there, and provides that separate payment is due for each of those spaces when different music plays. Amounts per year, Buma/Stemra excluding VAT, Sena exempt from VAT and here including the RAAP-PPI surcharge of 26.6%. Details of other providers from their own sites, consulted on 23 September 2026. Also used ECLI:NL:RBGEL:2025:6175.
What music works in a concrete car park?
Concrete on every side A car park has not a single surface that absorbs sound. Concrete above, concrete below, concrete to the side, and between them cars of sheet steel and glass. The sound rings on for a few seconds, and everything you put into it keeps ringing round.
Little bass, soft attacks Music with a lot of bass turns into a thud without a note there, and fast percussion turns into rattling. What holds up is something calm with little low end, soft attacks and few jumps in volume. In a space like that, it is the only music that still sounds like music.
Low and even volume Then the volume. In a car park you do not want the music to stand out, and certainly not to drown out an approaching car or a voice. So the level is low and above all even. If the music drops out for a moment, someone suddenly hears their own footsteps echo, and that feels unsafe. Peaks in volume are more disturbing here than in any other space. On the walking routes, by the lifts and in the stairwells the sound may sit a little closer than on the parking deck itself.
Different by day and night And then the difference between day and night. A car park under a shopping centre is a thoroughfare full of people during the day and an empty concrete floor in the evening. That calls for different music. With RadioMatic you set that by part of the day and it happens by itself, without anyone having to go to the plant room.
It works on your existing announcement and evacuation system
The 100-volt system already there A car park always has a 100-volt system, and usually that is also the announcement and evacuation system. One amplifier feeds dozens of speakers over hundreds of metres of cable, each with its own transformer, spread over decks and zones. The speakers are built for damp and temperature swings.
In through the line-in RadioMatic goes in through the line-in on that existing amplifier. No speaker has to be moved and no extra cable is needed. If your control room works with a Sonos, a Chromecast or simply a browser on a PC, the stream plays on that too.
Announcements and evacuation come first Nothing changes about the priority. Your announcement microphone cuts over the music, and on an alarm the evacuation system interrupts whatever is playing and puts the evacuation message on. To that system RadioMatic is only the source, just like the internet radio or the CD player on it now.
Every zone keeps its volume The zone layout stays as it is, so deck minus one, deck minus two, the entrance hall and the walking routes each keep their own volume. You hear back within one working day, and after that your station is live in under ten minutes.
What you can choose from today
Mainly installation companies Look for music for a car park and you mainly end up with installation companies. PTH Groep ties announcements and background music to the evacuation system, so that in an emergency all music and all announcements stop at once. SPIE describes the same set-up at the P+R garage Noorderhelling in Rotterdam.
You arrange the levies yourself What gets connected to such a system is usually an internet radio or a music service, and then you are playing music by human creators. Neither company says anything about the levies, because you arrange those yourself as the operator. The Buma/Stemra and Sena bill therefore comes on top of what you pay for music and installation. What it costs is set out above.
With RadioMatic your car park gets a soft, even layer of music, so that whoever walks to their car alone at half past ten at night does not hear every footstep echo. During the day, when the car park under the shopping centre is full of people, it sounds different by itself. Between the music your visitors hear where the charging bays are and which exit is closed this week.
Why 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 |
Frequently asked questions about music in your car park
Other kinds of business
- Background music in the shopping centre, without Buma and SenaShopping centres and arcades
- Background music for your petrol station, without Buma and SenaPetrol station and shop
- Background music for your car wash, without Buma and SenaCar wash
- Background music for your showroom, without Buma and SenaCar showroom and dealership
Background music for business. What is allowed, what does it cost and what are your options?
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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