15 August 2026. The UAE Ministry of Economy and Tourism (MOET, minister Abdulla bin Touq Al Marri) has published the Collective Management in Music Guide, adopted under Ministerial Resolution No. 136 of 2026. From 1 December 2026 restaurants, cafés, hotels, shopping malls, fitness centres, airlines, TV and radio stations must hold an annual licence whenever they play copyrighted music in public — inside a venue, in guest rooms or on air.
Fees will be collected by two authorised collective management organisations — Emirates Music Rights Association (EMRA) and Music Nation. The tariff grid ranges from AED 1,500 to AED 50,000 depending on the type and size of the business; the cap for airlines is AED 45,000, and TV and radio stations pay a percentage of annual revenue. Ten per cent of everything collected goes to a dedicated Cultural Support Fund for Music, backing creators, producers and the international promotion of Emirati music.
What exactly the ministry adopted
MOET has issued a rulebook that puts the commercial use of music in the UAE on a licensing footing familiar from mature markets in Europe, the US and Asia (BMI, ASCAP, PRS, SACEM). The ministry first licensed the Emirati Musicians’ Association (EMRA), and later granted a second permit to Music Nation. Both organisations may now issue licences, collect royalties and distribute them to the rights holders they represent.
Minister Abdulla bin Touq Al Marri, in the official MOET announcement, framed the goal as strengthening the competitiveness of the UAE’s music and creative industries while improving the governance of copyright and related rights. For business owners this means a transparent model: the size of the venue and the way music is used determine the licence fee.
Who pays and how much: the tariff grid
The tariffs are broken down into eight main groups — restaurants and cafés, shopping malls, retail, fitness, hotels, airlines, TV and radio. Below are the headline figures from the guide.
Restaurants and cafés without a DJ: AED 1,500 per year for venues of up to 50 seats, AED 2,700 for 51–100 seats, AED 4,800 for 101–200 seats. Above 200 seats an extra AED 20 per additional seat applies, capped at AED 6,000 per year.
Restaurants with a DJ and entertainment clubs pay more: AED 2,500 (up to 50 seats), AED 3,500 (51–100), AED 6,500 (101–200) and up to AED 8,000 above 200 seats.
Retail stores and commercial complexes: AED 1,700 for up to 300 sqm, AED 3,400 for 301–700 sqm, then AED 60 for each additional 25 sqm, capped at AED 20,000.
Shopping malls (common areas): a base fee of AED 625 for the first 100 sqm plus AED 50 for each additional 25 sqm. The cap is AED 50,000 per year.
Fitness centres: AED 1,700 for up to 300 sqm; above that AED 5 per sqm and no more than AED 6,000 per year.
Hotels are billed by room count and star rating: AED 50 per room (1–2 stars), AED 150 per room (4–5 stars), with an overall cap of AED 25,000 per year per property.
Airlines: AED 5,000–45,000 per year, depending on the size of the carrier and the volume of music content on board.
Radio stations: 1% of annual revenue for general stations, 3% for music-only, with a minimum of AED 1,700. TV channels: 1% of annual revenue for general channels, 0.25% for news-focused channels, minimum AED 1,700 as well.
Who is exempt
The guide explicitly exempts four categories: government and municipal bodies, educational and academic institutions, music played as part of UAE national holidays, and private or non-commercial events — family celebrations and charitable functions. The core test for the exemption is the absence of commercial use.
What to do before 1 December 2026
A little over three months remain before the regime kicks in. A practical four-step preparation plan follows.
Step 1. Inventory. Map every point where music plays: restaurant floor, terrace, lifts, restrooms, car park, app, website, TV/radio spots, event soundtrack. Each of them is potentially in scope.
Step 2. Fee calculation. Match the profile of the business against the published grid and estimate the annual amount. Multi-brand holdings should compute the fee per legal entity — individual amounts are moderate, but the accumulated bill changes the operating budget.
Step 3. Choice of licensor. Two authorised bodies operate in the market — EMRA and Music Nation. Each owns a different pool of rights; some businesses will need licences from both. A useful first step is to ask both organisations for the list of repertoires covered and confirm whether one licence covers everything actually played on your premises.
Step 4. Contract review. Businesses already on royalty-free services (Soundtrack Your Brand, Cloud Cover Music, Uppbeat and similar) should verify whether their model discharges the obligation towards EMRA and Music Nation in the UAE. Royalty-free usually covers producer rights but not necessarily the neighbouring rights of performers and phonogram producers — and those are precisely what is collected locally. Better to sort this out before an EMRA or Music Nation audit reaches you after 1 December.
The guide is part of MOET’s broader push to formalise the UAE creative economy, alongside initiatives in copyright, museums and film. For HORECA, shopping malls and retail this is the first systemic change that directly increases the annual operating load. Founders launching a new venue in the UAE should factor the tariff into the financial model of setting up a company from the outset. For established businesses, the new guide fits into the fast-moving picture of UAE business regulation in 2026 — together with corporate tax, e-invoicing and labour-law updates.
