On schedule with our 2017 distribution calendar, PlayRight has just distributed neighbouring rights coming from collecting societies abroad. How does such a distribution work? Where do these rights come from and how are they calculated?

Even though you are affiliated to the Belgian collecting society, each PlayRight member has the option to grant a worldwide mandate to collect, manage, and distribute rights for all territories where PlayRight has a bilateral agreement.  These bilateral agreements are secured with other collecting societies in the world and allow the exchange of rights between the two countries.

How these international rights are calculated and distributed?

Each collecting society has their own set of distribution rules. Neighbouring rights coming from abroad are, therefore, calculated according to the rules of the local collecting society.

PlayRight is not directly involved in the calculation process, but makes sure that the data quality meets the standards of the collection society in question, and handles the payment of all calculated rights once received. Please note that distributions such as this can contain several “reference years” and types of rights (music and/or audio-visual). This particular distribution of international rights handles following territories and reference years:

Please note that playRight takes a 5% fee from the amount of international rights collected AFTER December the 1st, 2016.

Our next distribution will take place in November and will be the first distribution of music recordings for the reference year 2016.

If you have any questions, you can contact your account manager or send an email to members@playright.be.   You can also consult the frequently asked questions here: