What are Unlogged Performances, and how does it work?

Do you write music exclusively for one performance venue? Is your library music used for radio and television? Or did you write music for a specific TV report? If so, you may not be able to receive remuneration for this as a music creator through us.

In this situation, you can take advantage of the unlogged performance scheme (Articles 9 & 10). This scheme ensures that you still get paid for the use of your music. In practice, the scheme is used almost exclusively for one specific situation: music used in amusement parks or amusement park attractions.

How does the scheme for unlogged performances work?

To apply for this scheme, the performances or broadcasts where your work is used must meet a number of criteria:

  1. It involves the regular use of your music over several years
  2. You have registered your music with us, and we have the correct copyright shares if you have written with multiple authors
  3. The musical works are known to Buma and have been notified by all rightsholders
  4. It involves relatively high numbers of performances per musical work that are not logged. This is linked to the requirement that costs should not be disproportionate to revenue
  5. A licence must be in place. It is therefore important to tell your client that the use of your music requires a licence with Buma. An exception is if there is a general licence in place for the entire location, to play music from multiple creators. In this instance, it is not possible to identify which amount relates to which musical work
  6. Payment may not have already been made in any other way for the use of music. For example by:
    1. Use of samples
    2. Use of reference repertoire
    3. Use on RTV

In this instance, the distribution of reference repertoire is covered under Entertainment Music.