Music licensing in the United Arab Emirates
Streaming music in your business isn't the same as listening to music at home. When you play music for an audience with a business and commercial purpose, you need different licenses.
Play it right
Soundtrack is built to bring you music that’s legal for your business. In the United Arab Emirates, almost everything you need is included in your Soundtrack plan except for a public performance license.
Recording rights
Allows you to stream a specific sound recording of a song
Publishing rights
Allows you to stream the original composition
Change the way you play
Soundtrack offers an excellent selection of music because of our direct relationships with publishers, performing rights organizations and record labels. These include Universal Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment, Warner Music Group and more. Our technology accurately tracks your song plays, which ensures that music creators get the right payments from us. Soundtrack Unlimited makes royalty payments about 5 times higher than streaming services for private use.
Music for business
Avoid legal concerns when playing music in your business. Use a suitable music provider (like Soundtrack) and check that you have the correct licenses in place.
Personal music services including Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube Music, Amazon Music, Tidal and Deezer, are not approved for use in business environments.
Spotify
You can’t broadcast or play Spotify publicly from a business, such as bars, restaurants, schools, stores, salons, dance studios, radio stations, etc. To play in a commercial environment, check out our friends at Soundtrack.
Spotify for public or commercial useYouTube
You may access and use the Service as made available to you, as long as you comply with this Agreement and the law. You may view or listen to Content for your personal, non-commercial use.
YouTube Terms of ServiceDeezer
The use of the Site and Application is only authorized for a personal and private use, therefore any other use, particularly in public premises and for businesses, is strictly forbidden.
Deezer Terms and Conditions of UseApple
You may use the Services and Content only for personal, noncommercial purposes (except as set forth in the App Store Content section below or as otherwise specified by Apple).
Apple Media Services Terms and ConditionsAmazon Music
You may use the Services only for your personal, non-commercial purposes.
Amazon Music Terms of UseGet licensed
Get your correct business licenses
If you don't have public performance licenses from EMRA and MusicNation, please visit their websites.
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Music licensing in the United Arab Emirates
Music licensing in the UAE is new and about to become a legal requirement. Under the Collective Management in Music Guide, issued by the Ministry of Economy and Tourism, businesses that play copyrighted music commercially will need an annual license from 1 December 2026.
Two organizations are authorized to license music and collect royalties. EMRA (Emirates Arts & Music Rights Association) became the country's first licensed collective management organization for music in April 2025, and Music Nation followed in June 2025. Both are authorized by the Ministry to administer rights and distribute payments to composers, songwriters, singers, musicians, record producers and publishers.
Licenses run for a year and are renewable. What you pay depends on the kind of business you run, its size, and how you use music: a café playing background music sits in a very different bracket from a shopping mall, an airline or a venue hosting live performances. Some uses are exempt, including educational institutions, government entities, national occasions and non-commercial private celebrations.
One in every ten dirhams collected goes to a new Cultural Support Fund for Music, which backs composition, production, distribution and live performance, with a focus on emerging Emirati musicians.
Applications are already open ahead of the December date. Get in touch with either organization to find out what applies to your business.
Contact info
EMRA
MusicNation