After we have invoiced your royalties to the users of your repertoire, we must of course also distribute these royalties to you. We do this on the basis of:

• the playlists and broadcasting lists we receive from users;
• the distribution key you established – together with any co-authors – when declaring your work. 

Read more about the allocation and distribution of authors' rights in our general regulations:

Dutch version - French version

You can read about which royalties you will receive and when in our clear, month-by-month schedule: 

Curious about the basis on which we collect your royalties from the users of your repertoire? Read all about it on the Unisono website.

Statements

Sabam will normally send you a digital statement. Would you rather receive your statement on paper and in the post? This is possible, provided you satisfy the following criteria: 

1. You do not have a MySabam account;
2. The amount to be paid is 25 euros or more;
3. The statement contains no more than 40 pages (recto/verso).

If you do not meet these three criteria, then we will only send your statement by post upon your specific request. Furthermore, you must repeat this request for every statement that does not satisfy the aforementioned requirements.  

We always send a single copy of your communication and paper statement. As an exception, you may request a duplicate by email, for which you will be charged an administrative fee as determined by the administrative body.

Are you an author?
And would you like us to send your communication and paper statements (if authorised) to your manager? Or for this person to be able to inspect your statements on MySabam? Please confirm this in a written request to our department. In order to avoid any conflict of interests, your manager may neither be nor have any connection with your publisher. Do you no longer want your details to be sent to your manager or for this person to be able to inspect your statements on MySabam? Then you are obliged to inform us in writing. As an exception, you may request a duplicate by email, for which you will be charged an administrative fee as determined by the administrative body.

Are you a publisher?
And would you like us to send your communication and paper statements (if authorised) to another publisher who is managing the administration of your publication catalogue? Or for this person to be able to inspect your statements on MySabam? Please confirm this in a written request to our department. Do you no longer want your details to be sent to this publisher or for this person to be able to inspect your statements on MySabam? Then you are obliged to inform us in writing. As an exception, you may request a duplicate by email, for which you will be charged an administrative fee as determined by the administrative body.
 

Management fees

Sabam will take a commission on the royalties it invoices for you. This covers the operating costs of the management of your authors’ rights. In addition, it enables us to continue investing in process simplification. 

And that’s good news for you. In doing so, we can make the step-by-step management of your rights easier and cheaper.

The commission percentages differ for each type of authors’ rights. They are determined annually by the governing body or established in accordance with international agreements.

In addition, we also cover our operating costs with the proceeds from the investment of rights revenue. Read more about this in Article 5 of our general regulations.

Finally, we withhold a solidarity deduction on your royalties for social, cultural and educational purposes. Read more.

Distribution of definitively non-distributable rights 

Royalties that we cannot assign to a rightholder – 36 months after the end of the financial year in which the invoicing took place – are the subject of a specific annual distribution. 

For each type of distribution, the definitive non-distributable rights are allocated to all rightholders of that distribution. Your share is calculated pro rata to the rights paid to you during the year of the distribution concerned. 

This rule can be found in article 40 of our general regulations.

Your rights abroad

As a member of Sabam, your authors’ rights are not only represented in Belgium, but also abroad. This is done by the foreign authors’ associations with which we have concluded reciprocity agreements.

In concrete terms, this means a foreign authors’ association will make every effort to invoice your authors’ rights locally when your works are used on its territory. These rights are then transferred to Sabam so we can then distribute them to you. 

For information about your rights abroad and a list of the countries with which we have signed reciprocity agreements, please see below:

Overview of Reciprocal Contracts