Background music in your workshop, without Buma and Sena
RadioMatic gives your workshop its own station that carries over the sound of the lift and the impact wrench without wearing your mechanics out by the end of the day.
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 workshop?
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
No ad breaks in your workshop In a workshop the radio is on all day, and everyone listens along whether they want to or not. Usually that is one station that one person once picked, with ten-minute ad breaks and a news bulletin nobody is waiting for. With RadioMatic you pick the style once and get new music in that style every day. Third-party advertising never comes in between. So a spot for the garage down the road or for a tyre chain never plays through your own speakers.
Your own notices on the floor What can come in between is up to you. The DJ moments name your business and play your own announcements. Think of the MOT schedule being full until next week, the parts arriving at eleven or the toolbox meeting on Tuesday. You type it in and you hear it on the next round, in the voice you pick. Local news and the weather on the hour are possible too, with only the subjects you tick yourself. Want music only, then you switch the voices off.
Desk and floor set separately With more locations, or a workshop with a body repair shop next door, you run everything from a single dashboard with its own mood per site. The shop floor and reception can play something different as well. The customer waiting for their car at the desk wants to hear something other than the mechanic at the lift.
When does your workshop pay Buma and Sena?
Under three staff, nothing due First the answer for most small workshops. Below three employees nothing is due. Mijnlicentie.nl names as a condition that three or more employees can hear the music, in non-public spaces such as canteens, warehouses and offices. The Sena scale does not start until three either. If there are two of you on the shop floor, you do not have to apply for a licence and we sell you nothing.
Per mechanic, not per square metre From three mechanics up, the hall falls under the tariff for work spaces, which names workshops in so many words. That tariff charges per employee and not per square metre. For a roomy hall with a handful of people that makes a real difference. Do watch where the hall ends.
Reception counts differently In the tariff text a work space is a space without public, and customers do come into your reception or waiting area. A different classification therefore applies to that part. How it works is set out in music in the waiting room.
No fees for AI-made music With RadioMatic no payment is due 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 | € 142 |
|---|---|
| Sena, including the RAAP-PPI surcharge | € 285 |
| Together per year | € 427 |
Sources: Buma/Stemra, work spaces tariff sheet BUM.411.26/01, the binding tariff text for work spaces BUM.132.26/01, which names workshops in the definition of a work space, Sena, 2026 tariff overview, page 9, table Bedrijfsruimtes / kantoren / werkplaatsen, and mijnlicentie.nl, do I need a music licence for the three-employee threshold. The Buma scale runs by FTE up to 10, 25, 50, 100 and 200. The Sena scale starts at 3 and runs up to 10, 25, 50, 100 and 200. Amounts per year and base tariff, 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.
Which music carries over the noise of the shop floor?
Music that cuts through the noise Acoustically a workshop is the opposite of an office. Concrete floor, steel doors, a compressor kicking in and an impact wrench cutting straight through it. Music that works fine in an open-plan office disappears here completely. What stays standing sits in the mid range, where the human voice sits too, with a clear pulse and a firm attack. Soft, thin music is gone the moment someone starts the tyre changer.
Eight hours without a headache At the same time you have to be able to bear it for eight hours. Music loud enough for the shop floor that keeps peaking on top of that gives you a headache by the end of the day. It is far more about how full the music sounds than about how loud it is.
Full rather than loud An even track with a steady drive comes through better than something that keeps jumping from soft to loud. You then have to open the amplifier up less far as well. Push the music on the shop floor above eighty decibels and you reach the limit where hearing protection comes into view.
Calm for customers at the desk Reception asks for something else. A customer sits there waiting with a cup of coffee, and would rather hear something calm than the shop floor. With RadioMatic you make that a separate zone with its own mood. There the DJ moments name your opening hours, your MOT offer or your pick-up and delivery service. On the shop floor the same station plays your internal announcements.
On the speakers hanging there now
The old radio can stay In nearly every workshop something is already hanging. Usually an old radio on a shelf or a couple of horn speakers on the rafters, connected to an amplifier in the meter cupboard. None of that has to change. RadioMatic is a stream, and it goes into your existing installation through the line-in on that amplifier. If all you have is an old radio with an aux input, a small box or a phone hangs off it. If you have Sonos at reception, the stream plays on that.
Two sources, no engineer If you want something different on the shop floor than at the desk, you put two sources in and run them both from the same dashboard. With several locations, every site has its own mood under one account. No engineer comes round and no cables are pulled. You hear back within one working day, and after that your station is live in under ten minutes.
What you can choose from today
Nothing made for car workshops Look for music for your workshop and you will not find a provider with its own page for car workshops. You end up with the general business offering from Backsound and Synerplay.
The licence stays your job With both of them you are playing music by human creators. That means two extra bills, from Buma/Stemra and from Sena. Backsound writes in its frequently asked questions that you as the business owner remain responsible for the public performance licence, which you arrange through mijnlicentie.nl. Synerplay points to Buma/Stemra and Sena for it. What that costs is set out above.
With RadioMatic the shop floor gets music with a steady pulse that carries over the compressor and the impact wrench, without giving your mechanics a headache by the end of the day. At reception something calmer plays for the customer waiting for their car with a coffee, and there the DJ moments name your MOT offer or your pick-up and delivery service. On the shop floor your team hears that the parts arrive at eleven or that there is a toolbox meeting on Tuesday.
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 workshop
Other kinds of business
- Background music for your car wash, without Buma and SenaCar wash
- Background music for your petrol station, without Buma and SenaPetrol station and shop
- Background music for your showroom, without Buma and SenaCar showroom and dealership
- Background music in your office, without Buma and SenaBackground music for offices
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