Last updated: August 2026
If you own or operate a café, restaurant, hotel, gym, spa, retail store, lounge or another business that plays music for customers, visitors or guests, UAE music licensing is now an important business issue to understand.
On 11 August 2026, the UAE Ministry of Economy and Tourism announced the launch of its Collective Management in Music Guide, establishing a framework for managing music rights and setting fees for specified commercial uses of music in the UAE. The Ministry stated that the fees will begin to be collected from the start of December 2026.
The framework covers categories including restaurants and cafés, shopping malls, fitness centres, hotels and floating hotels, airlines, radio stations, television channels, concerts and similar events.
For business owners, this raises some very practical questions:
Do I need a music licence for my business in the UAE?
How much will a UAE music licence cost?
Can I play Spotify or YouTube in my café or restaurant?
What happens if I use independently licensed or original music?
What documentation should I keep to prove that I have the right to play the music?
This guide explains what businesses need to know about the UAE music licensing framework in 2026 and what to consider when choosing music for commercial use.
What Is a UAE Music Licence?
A UAE music licence is permission to use music in circumstances covered by the applicable rights and licensing framework.
Music can involve several different rights and rights holders, including composers, songwriters, performers, sound-recording producers and music publishers. The UAE's new collective-management framework is designed to provide a structured system for managing and licensing those rights.
The Ministry of Economy and Tourism says the new Collective Management in Music Guide establishes an integrated framework for collectively managing these rights, protecting musical works, supporting creators and standardising licensing mechanisms and fee structures.
This is particularly relevant when music is played publicly or commercially, such as background music in a café, restaurant, hotel, gym or retail environment.
A music licence should therefore not be confused with simply having access to a song.
Access to music and permission to use music commercially are two different questions.
Do Businesses in the UAE Need a Music Licence?
For businesses covered by the new framework, commercial music use can give rise to licensing obligations.
The Ministry's 2026 Guide specifically identifies restaurants, cafés, shopping malls, fitness centres, hotels and floating hotels, airlines, radio stations, television channels, concerts and similar events among the categories subject to the framework.
EMRA's current licensing application also asks businesses to identify their business type, number of locations and how they use music, including background music, streaming services, live performances and DJ/events. Its listed business categories include F&B, gyms/fitness centres, hotels, spas, stores, supermarkets and department stores.
This is an important distinction:
Playing music privately
is different from
Playing music for customers as part of a commercial business.
If music contributes to the atmosphere or customer experience of your establishment, you should establish what licensing requirements apply to your particular use.
Which Businesses Are Affected by UAE Music Licensing?
The new framework is relevant to a broad range of commercial music users.
These include:
Cafés & Coffee Shops
Background music played for customers in cafés and coffee shops.
Restaurants
Music used as part of the dining environment, including background music and other forms of commercial music use.
Hotels & Hospitality
Music used in hotels, floating hotels and hospitality environments.
Gyms & Fitness Centres
Music played during workouts, classes or general operation of a fitness facility.
Retail Stores
Music played for customers in stores, supermarkets, department stores and other retail environments.
Spas & Wellness Businesses
Music used to create ambience in spas and wellness environments.
Lounges & Entertainment Venues
Music used in lounges and other customer-facing entertainment environments.
Events & Concerts
Live, recorded and other music uses associated with concerts and similar events may have separate considerations.
The exact obligations and applicable fees depend on the nature of the use and the scale of the economic activity, rather than every business simply paying one universal amount.
When Do the New UAE Music Licensing Fees Start?
According to the UAE Ministry of Economy and Tourism, the fees under the new Collective Management in Music Guide will begin to be collected at the start of December 2026.
This makes the second half of 2026 an important period for businesses that currently play music.
Rather than waiting until a licence becomes necessary or a licensing question arises, businesses can use this period to:
- Review how music is currently being played.
- Identify the music sources being used.
- Check the terms of existing music subscriptions.
- Understand the applicable UAE licensing requirements.
- Determine what rights their current music provider actually grants.
- Keep appropriate records and licensing documentation.
- Explore commercially licensed alternatives where appropriate.
Who Collects UAE Music Licensing Fees?
The Ministry has identified two authorised organisations responsible for collecting the relevant fees and managing the associated music rights:
- Emirates Music Rights Association (EMRA)
- Music Nation
The Ministry states that both organisations have been authorised to conduct collective management of music rights in the UAE and to oversee the collection and distribution of payments to music creators and rights holders.
EMRA describes itself as a licensed collective-management organisation administering Musical Works and Sound Recording rights, including public-performance and broadcasting rights.
Music Nation was granted its collective-management licence by the UAE Ministry of Economy in 2025 and subsequently announced formal operations administering public-performance and mechanical rights in the UAE, with SoundExchange providing neighbouring-rights administration.
What Does a UAE Music Licence Actually Cover?
This is one of the most important questions for any business owner.
Not all music licences are necessarily the same.
Music can involve multiple layers of rights, including rights associated with:
- Musical compositions
- Lyrics
- Sound recordings
- Performers
- Producers
- Publishers
- Public performance
- Reproduction and other uses
Therefore, a business should not simply ask:
"Is this music licensed?"
A better question is:
"What rights does this licence actually grant me, for what music, at what location, and for what type of commercial use?"
This distinction becomes particularly important when comparing consumer streaming services, commercial music providers, directly licensed music catalogues and independently produced music.
Is a Spotify Subscription Enough to Play Music in a UAE Café?
Do not assume that it is.
Having a personal or consumer subscription that allows you to listen to music does not automatically establish that you have the necessary rights to publicly play that music as part of a commercial business.
This is why questions such as:
- Can I play Spotify in my café in Dubai?
- Can I play Spotify Premium in my restaurant?
- Can I play YouTube Music in my business?
- Can I use Apple Music as background music in my café?
are important licensing questions rather than simply technology questions.
EMRA's own licensing pre-application form specifically asks businesses whether they use streaming services such as Spotify, YouTube and SoundCloud, alongside questions about background music, live music and DJs.
The safest approach is to examine the terms of the service you use and determine whether it provides the commercial/public-performance rights required for your particular business use.
What About Royalty-Free or Copyright-Free Music?
This is another area where business owners need to be careful.
The phrases "royalty-free" and "copyright-free" do not, by themselves, tell you everything you need to know about commercial use.
For example, a music provider may give you permission to use a recording commercially while imposing restrictions on:
- Public performance
- Redistribution
- Downloading
- Reselling
- Advertising
- Synchronisation
- Altering the music
- Sub-licensing
- Use across multiple locations
Therefore, instead of asking only:
"Is this royalty-free music?"
ask:
"What commercial rights does the licence grant, and does it cover my intended public use?"
That is the standard VENUORA intends to apply to its own catalogue.
What If the Music Is Original or AI-Generated?
This is becoming an increasingly important question for businesses looking for alternatives to mainstream commercial music.
Original, independently controlled or AI-assisted music is not automatically outside the UAE's copyright and licensing framework simply because it was not released by a major record label.
The critical question is:
What rights exist in the music, who controls those rights, and what rights can legally be granted to the business using the music?
For VENUORA, this distinction is particularly important.
We are developing a catalogue of original instrumental background music using AI-assisted production tools and other appropriate production methods. Where AI tools are used, VENUORA must establish that the applicable provider terms permit the relevant commercial exploitation and licensing of the resulting output.
For example, a paid AI-music subscription may provide commercial-use rights under the provider's terms, but commercial-use permission should not automatically be described as guaranteed copyright ownership.
Accordingly, VENUORA will not market its catalogue simply as "copyright-free music."
Instead, our intended proposition is:
Commercially Licensed Music for Business Use
with clearly defined licence terms specifying what the customer is permitted to do.
Why Documentation Matters
A business using commercial music should be able to identify what music it is using and what permission it has to use it.
This becomes particularly important as the UAE's music-rights framework develops.
The Ministry has stated that it will oversee authorised collective-management organisations and may conduct inspections and review relevant records, documents and technical and financial systems relating to collective management.
For a business, this makes documentation valuable.
A professional commercial music licence should ideally identify:
- The licensed business
- The licensed premises/location
- The licence period
- The music catalogue covered
- The permitted use
- The applicable licence terms
- A unique licence number
- A method of verifying the licence
What Is a Commercial Music Licence Certificate?
A Commercial Music Licence Certificate is documentary evidence associated with a commercial music licence.
At VENUORA, we intend to provide eligible licensed businesses with a unique certificate identifying the business, covered location, licence period and applicable VENUORA catalogue, together with an online verification mechanism.
For example:
VENUORA Commercial Music Licence Certificate
Licence No.: VNU-AE-2027-000001
Licensed Business: ABC Café LLC
Location: Dubai, UAE
Licence Period: 1 January 2027 – 31 December 2027
Covered Catalogue: VENUORA Café Collection
Status: Active
Verification: [QR Code]
The certificate would be evidence of the VENUORA licence granted under VENUORA's terms. It would not, by itself, represent a transfer of copyright ownership to the customer.
This distinction is important.
Does a VENUORA Licence Replace a UAE Music Licence?
This is an important question, and VENUORA does not currently make that claim.
VENUORA is being developed around a catalogue for which we intend to establish and document the rights necessary to grant defined commercial-use permissions to businesses.
However, whether a directly licensed VENUORA catalogue can fully satisfy or replace any licensing obligation arising under the UAE's collective-management framework depends on the precise rights involved, the applicable UAE law and regulations, the repertoire concerned and the terms of the relevant licence.
Businesses should not assume that purchasing a VENUORA licence automatically exempts them from any separate UAE licensing requirement unless VENUORA expressly confirms that position for the relevant catalogue and use.
We are taking a deliberately rights-first approach to this issue.
What Should UAE Businesses Do Now?
If your café, restaurant, gym, hotel, spa, retail store or other business currently plays music, this is a good time to review your arrangements.
1. Identify your current music source
Are you using Spotify, YouTube, Apple Music, radio, a DJ, downloaded files, a commercial music platform or your own catalogue?
2. Check your existing licence
Don't assume that a subscription automatically provides commercial public-performance rights.
3. Understand the applicable UAE requirements
The new Collective Management in Music Guide provides the regulatory framework and applicable fee structure for covered categories.
4. Keep documentation
Maintain copies of applicable licences, permissions, agreements and catalogue information.
5. Explore alternatives
If your business is looking for a dedicated commercial background-music solution, compare the actual rights and licence scope, not simply the number of tracks or the annual subscription price.
Looking for Commercial Background Music for Your UAE Business?
Meet VENUORA
VENUORA — Commercial Music for Modern Spaces
VENUORA is being developed to provide professionally curated background music for businesses including:
Cafés • Restaurants • Gyms • Spas • Retail • Hospitality • Lounges
Our approach is different from a consumer streaming subscription.
VENUORA is being built around:
Original music catalogues
Clearly defined commercial-use licences
Business-specific playlists
Licence documentation
Digital licence verification
Simple annual business plans
Every VENUORA licence will clearly identify what catalogue is covered, which business/location is licensed, how long the licence is valid and what uses are permitted, subject to the applicable VENUORA licence terms.
Explore VENUORA Commercial Music →
Important Legal & Licensing Notice
This page is provided for general information and educational purposes only. It is not legal advice and does not determine whether a particular business requires a licence, which rights apply to a particular recording or composition, or whether a particular alternative music licence satisfies any UAE regulatory requirement.
The UAE Ministry of Economy and Tourism's Collective Management in Music Guide and applicable legislation, regulations, resolutions and official guidance should be consulted for the current regulatory position. Licensing requirements may depend on the nature of the music use, the business, the catalogue/repertoire and other relevant circumstances.
VENUORA does not currently represent that purchasing a VENUORA licence automatically exempts a business from any separate licence or fee administered under the UAE collective-management framework. Any such statement will only be made where the relevant legal and rights position has been independently established.
Music rights can involve separate rights in compositions, lyrics, sound recordings, performances, publishing and public performance. The precise rights granted by any VENUORA licence will be defined in the applicable licence terms.
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