FAQ

You are a music maker if you are a musician (a soloist, band, session musician, choir or orchestra member or conductor, for example) or producer and you have been involved in a record or CD recording or commercial download. Under the Dutch Neighbouring Rights Act (Wet op naburige rechten), you are entitled to a fee if your recording has been played in public or has been broadcast on the radio and/or on television. However, you must also meet several requirements.

That’s great. We would be pleased to welcome you as a new neighbouring rights owner. You can register online here. Remember to print out and sign the registration forms. For identification purposes, please include a copy of your passport or identity card with your registration forms. As it is not necessary for your Citizen Service number (BSN) or passport photograph to be visible, feel free to erase both with a black pen. Once we have completed your registration, we will destroy the copy provided by you.

No, as an author you are not entitled to a fee from Sena. Sena works under the Neighbouring Rights Act and collects money for musicians and producers. Authors such as composers, lyricists and music publishers are copyrighted and are represented by Buma/Stemra.

Sena does not collect for:

• Audiovisual (this goes through Norma)
• Copyright (this goes through Buma/Stemra)
• Live on radio and TV (this goes through Norma)
• Live (for example in a bar) (this goes through Buma)  
• On demand (you must report directely to the relevant Producer)

The amount of money you receive from us varies from one track to another. It depends on factors such as the number of minutes the track has been played. The number of musicians who have collaborated on the track is another important factor. Once you have registered, you can view the amount reserved for each individual track online, via the MySena portal.

Distribution
In accordance with the distribution subregulations, we pay 50% to musicians who played on the track and 50% to the producer of the track. You can find a detailed description on this subject in our distribution regulations. 

Minute-value
To give you an idea of approximately how much one minute of music is worth, a minute-value overview per station and broadcast time follows can you find here. 

No rights can be derived form the above minute values.

Alternatively, use your itemised invoice to calculate the minute value in a certain period.

If you self-publish music, this means that you are both a musician and a producer. You should therefore also register as a producer with Sena. This means that you will also receive a fee as a producer whenever your music is been played on radio or television.

For more information on the ISRC and the application procedure, read this page: ISRC.

Sena processes the airplay data of many national and regional radio and television broadcasters. For cost reasons, we do not process airplay data from all radio stations and television broadcasters. If you have not yet received a fee for any of your music that has been played by one of the broadcasters from the list, this means that we have not processed the airplay data for these tracks yet and will pay the fee later. Sena pays fees four times a year, in March, June, September and December.

Yes, as the legal heir of a musician or producer, you can claim a fee. To submit a claim, fill in, sign and return the required ‘Heirs’ forms to us. You can also do this via MySena.

To log in, go to MySena and enter your Sena number and password. If you have a login problem and have, for example, lost your Sena number or have forgotten your password, follow the steps under the login fields.

Sena app
You can log in in the Sena app in 4 different ways: with your Sena number plus your password, with a 5-digit code set by you, but also with facial recognition (Face ID) or your fingerprint (Touch ID). You can do this under 'Settings' in the dropdown menu.

If your track has been registered in MySena, we will match the information about the track to the information on radio and television station playlists. If your repertoire appears on the playlists of these radio and television stations, we will process the data.

An amount is reserved for tracks appearing on playlists. We refer to this amount as a reserved amount as it may still be subject to change up until the date on which the payment is made. Sena pays the fees four times a year, at the end of the months of March, June, September and December. We add up all the fees for the quarterly period and pay them if your net fee is €5 or more. Reserved amounts are recorded in MySena after the track shown in the repertoire list. You can use the Sena app at any time to check your current balance – the gross amount that has been reserved for the next payment to you.

Tracks that have not been played and therefore do not appear on playlists will also remain in your repertoire list in MySena. The status of these tracks will always be ‘track added’.

Musicians and producers receive a payment from Sena if their music has been played in public. We carefully examine who is entitled to receive a fee. We compare radio and television station playlists with the repertoire data recorded in our database. We then calculate the correct fees and pay these. If musicians or producers have not yet registered with us, we reserve their fees for a maximum of three years. During that period we actively search for the person or organisation concerned.

Sena pays fees four times a year, at the end of the months of March, June, September and December. We add up all the fees for the quarterly period and pay if the net fee amounts to €5 or more. Reserved amounts are recorded in MySena after the track shown in the repertoire list.

You will see a correction amount on your statement because we have had to settle an amount.
There can be various reasons for this settlement. Below we explain what those reasons could be.

We have reclaimed an amount that was wrongly paid earlier. This is allowed on the basis of article 11 (producers) or article 13 (performers) of the distribution regulations, which states: Sena is entitled to reclaim wrongly paid funds within a period of five years after payment, or to set them off against the following payments .
A track is no longer legal, because the country of the producer has changed.
There is a change in the claim, for example because the claim was previously wrongly awarded.
The so-called distribution key has been changed, because, for example, additional rights holders have become known who have cooperated in the track.
Balances can also be temporarily negative, for example because we have already processed the number of minutes played for your track, but the fee that belongs to the playlist of your track has not yet been processed.

We distribute the amounts due to rightholders in accordance with Section 7(4) of the Neighbouring Rights Act (Wet op naburige rechten). Performers and producers receive 50% of the payments available each. The Sena distribution subregulations describe in detail how the payments collected are distributed.

How do I register if I am a DJ / producer?

If you are a DJ and / or a producer and you create your own music on a DAW (digital audio workstation), then you should register at Sena as a performing artist. Do not register as a producer. According to the definition we use, a producer is the music company that has ultimate financial responsibility for recording and is the owner of the master tape.

Own label?
If you have your own label and you self-publish your music on it, then you are a performing artist and producer. In this case you register with Sena as a performing artist and producer (music company / label). Then you get two accounts, namely a musician and a producer account and you will also be paid twice if your music is played in public.

You can easily link these two accounts as soon as both are activated. You can read more about that and switching between your musicians and producers here.

As a producer you can easily create a label in MySena and register the label in your label overview in your producer account.

This works as follows:
- Login to MySena
- click on “Company” at the top of the page
- then on the tab “Labels”
- then on “Add / claim label”.
- then enter the label name
- fill in and the start date (the date when you released your own repertoire for the first time)
- Click on “save”.

The studio producer supervises the recording in the studio and ensures that it comes about. The producer is financially responsible for the recording and owner of the master tape.

Automatic identification
Make sure that the name of the main artist (s) and title are exactly the same as the repertoire you registered. This increases the chance of automatic identification with the supplied playlists.

No proof required for participation
If your stage name and / or band / ensemble are registered under your participations, then you do not need to provide proof as the main artist. Your participation will then be automatically validated. main artist is registered with the participations, no proof is required.

It is our goal to pay the fees collected by us as quickly and correctly as possible at the lowest possible cost. The withholding percentage is 12 percent on monies that we collect in the Netherlands. From 2021, we will withhold 5.5% on income from foreign sister organizations. For the years before that, 4 percent (EU and EFTA countries) or 6 percent (rest of the world).

From the continued payment in March 2023, we will calculate a withholding percentage of 13 percent from rights holders on music use from music year 2023. In recent years, the withholding percentage was 14.5% over 2021 and 2022 and 12% over the other open years.

From 2017, Sena receives the playlists of the Dutch radio and television stations via SoundAware 3 weeks after broadcast. You can find out which channels they are here.
SoundAware is a company that specializes in automatic music recognition. Whether a title appears on the playlist depends on the sound file present. As long as a sound file is not known to SoundAware, a title cannot be identified. So make sure that when you a producer you also upload the sound file when registering your repertoire on MySena. If you submit the sound file via the Buma portal, make sure that the metadata of the sound file is the same as the metadata of the repertoire registered with Sena.
If you have not uploaded the sound file and SoundAware itself cannot recognize the music (SoundAware itself also collects sound files and the accompanying information), a title will not end up on the playlist.

One year after the broadcast, Sena receives residual playlist information that contains metadata of sound files, which were delivered later or of titles that could not be recognized at first or some of which could not be recognized, for example by speech about a track.
In addition, Sena receives playlist data for the previous year from various background suppliers once a year.

How quickly we can process playlists depends on whether the metadata of the supplied playlist line matches the metadata of the repertoire registered with us. If this matches 1 to 1, then the playlist rule can automatically match and payment could be made in the next payment after receipt of the playlist.

Sena has no legal mandate to collect a fee for on-demand music. That right accrues solely to the producer or music company. Music companies conclude contracts directly with on-demand music providers such as iTunes, Deezer, Spotify and YouTube.

Design music is music used to identify and/or frame a radio or television programme or channel. Sena applies a 25% reduction in payment for the use of music that falls under the definition of design music. For the distribution of monies collected from bars and restaurants, music used as design music is removed from the playlists. 

Distribution will continue to be made for this music use from the moment the producer has registered the repertoire with Sena. When registering repertoire via MySena or the Sena app, you must indicate at title level whether the track is design music. Sena carries out an extra check on the commercial availability of design music when it is registered.

It is compulsory to notify Sena of the correct and complete repertoire in accordance with the Sena exploitation agreement signed by the rightsholder. If a rightsholder knows that their music is being used as design music, it is important to register it as such in MySena on release. If repertoire use is not correctly registered with Sena, the rightsholder is in breach of the exploitation agreement and other rightsholders may be disadvantaged.

In addition, it is important that the title fully matches the title as stated on the playlist so that it can be processed automatically.

If you want to register a title in MySena, which has been specially created and used in an advertisement, select the category "Commercial". The following statement is then automatically displayed: “I hereby declare that the registered repertoire is a commercial phonogram within the meaning of Article 7 of the Related Rights Act (this also includes: a phonogram that is made available to the public)”.

Commercially available
By checking the above, you confirm that the title is commercially available. This statement replaces the earlier “commercial statement (comfon)”. In addition to the statement, enter the URL of the site where it can be seen that the title is commercially available and thus becomes rights-bearing.

After you have registered as a musician and producer and both accounts have been activated, you can link the accounts together. This works as follows: after logging in as a musician, click on “Musician” at the top of the page and on the “Personal” tab, click on “link to producer”. You enter the Sena number and password of your producer account and click on “save”.

If you are registered as a musician as well as a producer and you have linked your accounts, you will find a tick next to the sentence “put this repertoire ready in my linked account” when you register your repertoire in both accounts. If you leave this on, the repertoire that you register under your one account will automatically end up in your other account under “not yet completed repertoire” because we as a musician need different information (eg your role and activities) than as a producer ( bjiv. The ISRC). If you click on "continue", you can fill in the missing fields and register the repertoire. If you are a musician but not a producer or vice versa, you can uncheck the box and you cannot link accounts.

Switch between accounts
If your accounts are linked, you can switch within your accounts by clicking on the round arrows at the top right next to the word “log out”.

The video below also explains how to switch between your accounts.

If you organise a national or regional event, please complete the SoCu application form. If you are planning to self-publish your own music, you can submit an application to Sena Performers Muziekproductiefonds. Sena supports numerous festivals, events, music recordings and other social, cultural and educational initiatives every year.

Besides the deduction percentage of 12%, the following deductions are made from licence fee income:

• The Performers Section reserves 3% of the payments collected for performers for social, cultural and educational services.
• The Producers Section has a more restrictive policy on social, cultural and educational services. In recent years, it has reserved less than 1% of the payments collected for this purpose.

See the Sena annual report and the web page about funds for a detailed explanation of Sena’s social, cultural and educational projects. We do not have any income from investments.

Amounts that we are not able to distribute among lawful rightholders are referred to as ‘undistributed amounts’. In accordance with the distribution subregulations, the representatives of the Performers Section and the representatives of the Producers Section are authorised to decide on the use of these undistributed amounts.

The policy of the Performers Section is to allocate undistributed amounts to social, cultural and educational services.

The policy of the Producers Section is to add undistributed amounts to the payments intended for distribution.

The neighboring right is exempt from VAT.

The income of Sena is taxed for the person entitled to income tax (natural persons/sole proprietorship/partnership). The income of Sena for the beneficiaries with whom the rights are placed are taxable for corporation tax. If you have any questions about this, always refer to your accountant or accountant. He or she can inquire about the exact applicable tax law.

N.B. Sena cannot be held responsible for incorrect VAT/income tax or corporation tax returns. We are also obliged to pass on the continued payments to beneficiaries annually, via an IB47 form, to the tax authorities.

You can change your mandate via MySena. After logging in to the portal, click on "Musician" or "Company" at the top of the page and go to "Mandates". After you’ve clicked "Add", you can make the changes and save them. Then, print the "Mandate change" form and upload the signed form as proof.

Each mandate change must be entered before October 1^st of each calendar year, after which the change will take effect on January 1^st of the following year.

If you want to cancel your account with Sena, send a signed letter stating your Sena number by email to servicedesk@sena.nl. Prefer sending it by post? That’s possible too. Send the letter to: Sena, attn. Customer Relations, Antwoordnummer 1240, 1200 WB Hilversum.

According to Article 7 of the exploitation agreement you can terminate the agreement on December 31^st of each calendar year, subject to a cancellation period of at least 3 months. The termination then takes effect on January 1^st of the following year.

Change of address
If you have moved or will you be moving in the near future, you will find that it is quick and easy to update your address details yourself online via the MySena. If you are an artist and have a personal account, click on Musician after logging in. You will be able to change your details in the screen that appears. If you have a producer’s account, click on Company after logging in. After you have changed your address, we will send you a link via email to confirm your new address.

Change of account number
Do you have a new bank account number? This can easily be changed via MySena too. If you are an artist and have a personal account, click on Musician after logging in. Here you can adjust your bank account number yourself. Please note: you must add proof in order to change your bank account number. This proof can be a copy of the front and back of your bank card, a bank statement with your signature on it or a signed letter containing your new back account details. If you have a producer's account, click on Company after logging in and follow the same steps. After we have approved your bank changes, you will receive a confirmation by email.

Having any problems? Please contact our Customer Relation Department via +31(0)35 625 17 80 or send an email to servicedesk@sena.nl.

If you are a producer, we recommend uploading sound files for every track you add to your repertoire. Make sure that the audio you upload matches the tracks that are played in public. This is necessary for identification of the playlists we receive. A sound file can only be uploaded as MP3. We use these sound files as recognition for the playback data we receive from Soundaware, which keeps track of all radio playlists based on fingerprint technology. As a musician you cannot upload a sound file, this is only reserved for producers. If you release music yourself, you can upload audio in your producer account.

Method
This works as follows:
-Click on a title under “Repertoire” with the status “track added”, you will see an icon: “Upload sound file”.

If you click and take the steps as described in the help text, you can upload the sound file.
This sound file is sent directly to our fingerprint supplier.

The sound file must meet the following requirements:

• 2 channel stereo MP3

• sample size of at least 16bit

• sample rate: 44.1KHz

• bitrate of at least 320kbps

Note: for a title with category Commercial, the sound file of the commercially available phonogram must be uploaded, not the sound file of the commercial itself.

If you have uploaded an incorrect sound file, you can delete this file yourself within a week. Then you can upload the correct sound file. If you want to change the metadata within a week of registering a title, you must first delete the sound file. After changing the metadata you can upload the sound file again.

If you want to change the metadata or a sound file at a later time or do you have problems uploading a sound file?

Please contact the Customer Service department via telephone number 035 625 17 80 or via e-mail servicedesk@sena.nl

A double claim arises when more than 1 producer claims a track over the same term and the claim percentage jointly exceeds 100%.

The intention is to handle the double claim in the MySena portal. After logging in, click on “Claims” at the top of the page and on the “Double claims” tab, click on the title, after which it opens, as it were. On your line under “progress per claimant” you can then confirm your claim as master owner (checkmark) or withdraw (cross) or edit (pencil). It is therefore about who has been financially and ultimately responsible for the admission (in whole or in part). A complete help text can be found in the blue-green bar under the question mark in MySena.

According to our definition, a featuring artist is seen as the main artist. Just like musicians / artists who have made a remix and whose (artist) name is mentioned in the remix. When registering a title with a featuring artist, this must be stated in the field "name of main artist". Not in brackets after the title, otherwise the repertoire will not match the performance data.

An annual statement is a financial statement containing an overview of your income from neighboring rights. You can request an annual overview in MySena. Log in to MySena and then click on 'Note' at the top of the screen. Then scroll down and under Note you will see your annual statement when you have received reimbursements for a certain year.

Yes, that's possible. The exploitation agreement must be signed by the person for whom a notification is made. If you wish to claim compensation as an heir, you can register as an 'heir' with Sena.

You can request an overview of your repertoire registered with Sena as follows:
- Login to MySena
- Then you go to "Repertoire"
- In the blue-green 'Repertoire' bar you will find an arrow on the right, that is the download icon '
- Click on this and you can download an overview of your repertoire in Excel.

If you have successfully registered a title, this title will be placed under Repertoire with the status “track added”. We receive the playing data from our fingerprint supplier, which is loaded into our system and matches the repertoire claims of our rights holders.

We first check the evidence, after which the claim can be linked and the reimbursements can be paid during one or more payment rounds per year. After the repertoire has been linked to the performance data, the status "track added" changes from a played title to the gross reserved fee for the current outstanding years, including monies already paid out.

By clicking on a title and then on "Payments per year" you can see which fees have been reserved and paid per open playing year.

Since 2017, we are receiving playing data from our fingerprint supplier 3 weeks after a title has been played. Until 2017, we received playing data directly from the RTV stations with which Sena has concluded an agreement and whose playlists we process.

As soon as we have received the playing data of a title, we will process the repertoire line and the repertoire claim from producers is linked to the playing data via an automatic matching process. In the case of a musician's repertoire, the uploaded evidence is first checked, after which the claim is linked if this evidence has been approved.

In MySena you can see this as the status of the registered title "track added" has been replaced by a gross fee. The reserved compensation is then paid to the relevant entitled party during one of our 4 payment rounds per year, whereby a payment threshold of € 5.00 is applied.

At Sena, we determine on December 31 of each year whether you will have "affiliate" or "participant" status for the following year. We do this to determine whether you are eligible to vote at the annual Meeting of Affiliates and whether you could stand for election as an opposing candidate for a nomination seat or as a candidate for a free seat in the Producers or Performers sections.

Explanation of status:
Affiliate: this means that you are entitled to vote from now on because you meet the threshold amount of € 100 gross (Performing Artists) or € 700 gross (Producers) over the past three calendar years, as set out in the 'Rules of Threshold Amounts'. If desired, you can stand for election as a (counter) candidate for nomination and / or free seats of the sections.

Participant: this means that you are not entitled to vote because you do not comply with the threshold amount of € 100 gross (Performing Artists) or € 700 gross (Producers) over the past three calendar years, as set out in the 'Regulation of Threshold Amounts'. You cannot stand for election as a (counter) candidate for nomination and / or free seats of the sections.

If your artist name has changed or if you are going to release music under a different artist name, you can easily add your (new) artist name to MySena.

To add your artist name, follow these steps:
- Log in to MySena
- Click on 'Musician' at the top
- Click on the 'Artist name' tab
- Add your new artist name.

Airplay function

As a producer, it is now possible to search and claim in the unrecognized music from SoundAware to see if there are still seconds that can be claimed by you.

Method:

• In MySena you go to "Airplay" where you will see an overview of unrecognized music.
• In the search bar you can search for titles or brands of unrecognized music known by you.
• You can search for all radio stations or select a specific radio station from the list.
• If desired, you can search for a start date.
• When you have found a title, you can then listen to it via the play button.
• If you want to claim a title, click on "Claim" and complete the pre-filled details to complete the claim.

At the moment, only unrecognized music from commercials can be found in the Airplay function. Other music will be added at a later time.

The current gross balance is the total gross reserved amounts for the open years. The current gross balance in the Sena app and MySena can be higher than the payout

This is possible due to one of the following reasons:

1. The current gross balance is a gross amount and the amount paid out is net.
2. The current balance will continue to change after the payout amount has been determined. The period after the determination, the current balance will still include the amount to be paid out. The amount then is prepared for transfer to the bank account of the rightholder. The reason for this is that in the meantime, Sena will continue to process repertoire data. On the day of the payment, the payment part will lapse and there may be a remaining current gross balance. This can be either a positive or negative balance, which is ready for the next payment.

For at track each main artist receives 5 points and each session musician receives 1 point per instrument with a maximum of 3 points.

Example:
Let's say the income of a track is 2200 euros.
Then 50% (€1100,=) goes to the producer and the other 50% (1100,=) is divided between the musicians.
If there are 2 main artists and 1 session musician, you have a total of 11 points. (5 points per main artist and 1 point per session musician). 

500 euros is paid to each main artist and 100 euros is paid to the session musician. (Session musicians can never get more than 50% of the revenue)

It depends on the contract you signed. What's in it? Make clear agreements in advance about neighbouring law. If you are allowed to claim as main artist, you must also register this as main artist with Sena. If you have agreed that you can claim as a session musician, you register your track as a session musician.

A remix may not contain original tracks or samples of the original; in that case there is a new performance of a composition (cover). As a result, the original lead artist may not be able to claim a neighbouring right. Make clear agreements about this.

In MySena, producers can add a label to their label list that they own or exclusively represent. After logging in, click on “Company” at the top of the page and then on the “Labels” tab. To add a label, click on “register/claim label”, enter the label name and start date and click on “save”. To add labels in bulk, choose the option “Import labels” after which you can download, save and upload the form.

If you no longer own a particular label or you no longer represent a label exclusively, you can add an end date to the registered label by clicking on “edit”. Do not forget to also add an end date to the repertoire that you have registered with the relevant label under “Repertoire”. Click here for a manual. The new producer can then register the repertoire with a start date so that no double claims arise.

Manual