Background music for your garden centre, without Buma and Sena
Looking for music for your garden centre? RadioMatic gives you a station that moves with the season, indoors under the glass and outdoors on the yard, with your own messages between the tracks. Because the music is made with AI, you pay nothing to Buma/Stemra and Sena.
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 garden centre?
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
Four seasons in one year A garden centre is four different businesses every year. In March and April it is packed and the tills keep running. In July it is quiet and warm, in September the autumn planting arrives and from October you build the Christmas display. The music should move with that.
A different mood per period With RadioMatic you switch on a different mood for each period. The style within it stays the same, and new music arrives every day, and what suits your business comes back as your own hits. Your staff are on the floor six days a week all spring, and they notice that difference more than the customer who comes once a month.
Plant market and workshops announced Between the tracks the DJ moments name your centre. You put in yourself what is going on, about this weekend’s plant market, Saturday morning’s workshop, the perennial promotion, the delivery service or the opening hours of the Christmas display. You type it in and it is there on the next round. If a colleague is needed at the till, you simply use your own microphone, because it cuts over the music.
The weather on the hour On the hour a short bulletin can follow with local news and the weather. In a garden centre the weather decides your whole trading day, so it belongs there. Third-party advertising never comes in between. With more sites you run them from a single dashboard, with its own mood and messages per location.
What does music in your garden centre cost in Buma and Sena payments?
Buma charges by floor area If you play music by human creators in your garden centre, you get two bills, and they are based on two different things. Buma/Stemra charges by the floor area of your centre. A garden centre falls in the ordinary shop category there, and not in the dearer one for self-service businesses, supermarkets and department stores. For large centres that tariff keeps stepping up above the highest bracket.
Seasonal staff double the Sena bill Sena charges by the number of staff who can hear the music, and that is where the risk sits for a garden centre. Take on seasonal staff in spring and cross a line in the table, and your Sena bill doubles while not a square metre is added. At Buma you watch something else.
Glasshouse, yard and warehouse added up Glasshouse, indoor space, outdoor yard and warehouse count as one floor area as long as the same music from the same source plays there, and are charged separately when it does not. If you have a restaurant or a coffee corner, Buma/Stemra has a separate hospitality tariff for it. If you are unsure how your layout is seen, ask 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. The same applies to Sena.
What the law and the court say 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 | € 854 |
|---|---|
| Sena, including the RAAP-PPI surcharge | € 701 |
| Together per year | € 1,555 |
Sources: Buma/Stemra, mechanical background music, 2026 prices, Buma/Stemra, binding tariff text BUM.129.26/01, Buma/Stemra, hospitality, binding tariff text BUM.122.26/01, Sena, 2026 tariff overview. Buma/Stemra charges a garden centre in category B, because article 7 of BUM.129.26/01 lists shops in that category, with the exception of self-service businesses, supermarkets and department stores. Above 1,600 m² a surcharge is added for every 1,600 m² or part thereof. Sena charges in the table Verkoopruimtes I (retail spaces I), general retail, which is based on the number of FTEs who can hear the music and which steps up at 5, 10, 25 and 50 FTEs. 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 charges for each space separately when different music plays. Hospitality tariff BUM.122.26/01 applies, according to that tariff text, to other publicly accessible spaces as well where food and drink are supplied and can be consumed on the spot. 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.
Music for indoors, outdoors and the Christmas display
Glasshouse and yard sound different A garden centre has two acoustic worlds. Under the glasshouse the sound bounces off glass and steel and carries far. Outside on the yard it disappears instead, because nothing reflects it and it blows away. What sounds pleasant indoors often sounds too thin outside. Turning it up indoors does not help, because then the glasshouse shouts. It works better to treat the outdoor department as a separate zone, with a slightly fuller sound and its own volume.
A calm tempo for browsing The visitor comes here to walk around. Someone strolling through the plant department for two hours on a Saturday morning is not waiting for a beat that drives them to the till. Calm tempo, plenty of room, few sharp high notes. In the busy weeks of March and April it gets noisy with people talking and trolleys on the concrete floor. Then the music may sit a bit firmer, so that it binds that noise together.
New Christmas music every day From October the Christmas display is on. The Christmas display has its own music, and at many centres it runs for eight to ten weeks on end. In that period a fixed playlist drives your staff mad, because the same thirty Christmas tracks for ten weeks is very different from one shopping week in December. With RadioMatic new Christmas music arrives every day in the same style. It stays Christmas music, but not the same thirty tracks for ten weeks.
It works on the system already in place, indoors and outdoors
Built for a 100-volt system A garden centre almost always has a 100-volt system, and that is what such a system was devised for. One amplifier, many speakers, long cable runs and a transformer per speaker. Often there are ceiling or wall speakers indoors and weatherproof ones outside. RadioMatic goes into that system through the line-in on your existing amplifier. You do not have to move a speaker or pull a cable. If you work with Sonos, Chromecast or a PC at the till, the stream plays on that too.
Zones and microphone stay The zones you have now stay as they are. Glasshouse department, outdoor yard, till zone and warehouse each keep their own source and their own volume, and you run them from the same dashboard. Your announcement microphone keeps doing what it did, because it cuts over the music.
More sites under one account With several sites every location has its own mood under one account. You hear back within one working day, and after that your station is live in under ten minutes.
What you can choose from today
Installers and music subscriptions Look for music for your garden centre and you end up with installers and with the big music subscriptions. Koster AVL has a separate page on sound in a garden centre, and writes about zones for the glasshouse, the outdoor department and the centre as a whole. Tunify is the best known name in music subscriptions in the Netherlands. Tunify charges per zone, so if you have a zone indoors and one outdoors, you pay for two.
A bill besides your subscription With both of them you play music by human creators. Tunify says itself that for commercial or public use you need your own public performance licence from your local copyright organisation, whether the music comes from CDs, radio or a subscription. The Buma/Stemra and Sena bill therefore comes on top of your subscription. What it costs is set out above.
With RadioMatic the glasshouse sounds different from the outdoor yard, each with its own mood, and your staff hear new Christmas music every day through ten weeks of Christmas display. Between the tracks the DJ names your centre and tells customers about this weekend’s plant market. On the hour the weather follows, and in a garden centre that decides your whole day.
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 garden centre
Other kinds of business
- Background music for your DIY store, without Buma and SenaDIY store and home improvement shop
- Background music for your furniture store, without Buma and SenaFurniture store, home store and retail park
- Background music for your pet shop, without Buma and SenaBackground music for specialist pet shops
- Background music in the shopping centre, without Buma and SenaShopping centres and arcades
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.
Rather talk first? Book a 15-minute call