The starting point of any distribution is your repertoire, meaning the declarations of your audiovisual performances (also regarding dubbing and postsynchronisation and music in audiovisual works). Without these declarations, we cannot attribute your rights.

On the one hand, rights are always calculated by reference year, i.e. the year (or years) during which a audiovisual recording will be broadcast. On the other hand, a distribution always takes place in two stages. An annual distribution calendar is available on this page. This calendar also contains the deadlines before which you must declare your performances.

Step by step

Step 1: data collection

First, PlayRight has to evaluate the works that are broadcast for a given reference year.

For the reference years 2016, 2017 & 2018 and 2019 PlayRight uses the following settings:

• Television channel playlists,
• The duration of the work, the time of broadcast and the market share of the channel.

These lists and figures are the parameters PlayRight is using to determine the importance of the rights that are attributed to a recording and therefore to the performers: these are the rights that PlayRight distributes to you.

Step 2: matching

In a second step, the Account managers match the declarations of the members to the works identified in the playlists. This is called “matching”.

Step 3: assigning weight to a work 

Based on the mentioned parameters, a weight is attributed for each work in these playlists: an amount is allocated to the work, based on this weight.

It should be noted that the total amount of a distribution is set according to the remunerations collected for performers for a reference year. This total amount is variable and for a distribution of audiovisual rights it is only based on “private copy” and “lending right”.

Step 4: Calculation of rights & distribution

The total amount allocated to the work is then divided between the performing artists, depending on the role they play on the recording: main role, middle role or small role (for the reference years 2016 and 2017 & 2018) or main role, middle role (for the reference year 2019 and following reference years).*

Once this calculation has been done and verified, PlayRight distributes the rights to its affiliated performers and sister companies abroad that have claimed rights for their members (who gave them a mandate for Belgium). If you have declared your repertoire to PlayRight and the recording you participated in has generated rights, you will receive a communication. The amounts, as well as the recordings to which the recordings are linked and the full cast on each recording, can be consulted in your PlayRight Portal  (menu “Rights”).

* Reminder: Since at the time of the first distribution all the artists did not necessarily declare their performances, PlayRight puts a virtual casting on each work, allowing to freeze the rights for the artists who have not yet declared their repertoires.

• See also: MUSIC PERFORMANCE: HOW PLAYRIGHT CALCULATES MY RIGHTS