Update: progress on our IT update

We are building a future-proof BumaStemra: with modern systems, better data, and greater transparency for you as a rightsholder. We do this to keep administrative costs under control and to enable increasingly accurate, more frequent, and more direct (1-to-1) royalty payments.

Unfortunately, the complexity of the renewal process — which in many cases will lead to a more favourable withholding tax rate for international music usage — has previously resulted in delays to this distribution. On 17 December, we will nevertheless be able to pay out a large part of the foreign income using this more favourable rate, with an additional payment to follow shortly thereafter. For some countries, we are still working to apply this favourable rate, and the expectation is that these will be included in early 2026. This is unfortunate, but necessary in order to achieve a structurally better, more transparent, and future-proof distribution process.

In 2026, we will work to clear remaining backlogs and move towards business as usual. We will keep you informed of developments and continue to work steadily and with conviction on our new system.