SACEM and SPRÉ: Music Royalties for a Café-Bar (2026)

Yes: playing music in a bar triggers two royalties, SACEM (authors' rights) and SPRÉ (equitable remuneration for performers and producers). You file a single declaration with SACEM, which collects the SPRÉ share under mandate. The annual flat rate depends on the surface area, the number of seats and the equipment installed.

Playing music in a café-bar is never free, even if you stream your own playlist or tune in to a radio. The moment the music is audible to your customers, you are making a communication to the public, which triggers two separate royalties. Many operators pay only one and risk a back charge. Here is how the system works in 2026, from calculating the flat rate to the bookkeeping entry.

Playing recorded music involves two families of rights holders, and therefore two royalties:

• SACEM collects authors' rights. It pays the authors, composers and publishers of the work, meaning those who wrote the melody, the lyrics and the composition.
• SPRÉ (Société pour la Perception de la Rémunération Équitable) collects the equitable remuneration. It pays the performers (the musicians and singer on the recording) and the producers of the phonogram, namely the record label that financed the recording.

Both rights coexist: a single song concerns the author (SACEM) and the performer plus the producer (SPRÉ). You therefore owe both.

A key distinction not to confuse: SPRÉ is not SPEDIDAM. SPEDIDAM is a downstream collecting society that later distributes the share due to performers. As an operator, you never pay SPEDIDAM directly: your billing contact is SACEM.

A practical piece of good news: SPRÉ has given SACEM a mandate to collect on its behalf. In concrete terms, you make one declaration and one payment to SACEM, which simultaneously collects the authors' rights (for itself) and the equitable remuneration (on behalf of SPRÉ), then passes the latter on. You receive an invoice that itemises both lines.

Do not fall for the false belief that paying SACEM alone makes you compliant: check that the SPRÉ line actually appears on your flat-rate invoice.

For background music, the royalty is a flat annual fee. The amount depends on several parameters:

• the surface area open to the public where music is played;
• the type of diffusion: recorded background music, presence of a television set, a dedicated sound system or an automatic device;
• the nature of the venue (drinks outlet, restaurant);
• the use: plain background music or dance nights held occasionally.

Background music is covered by an annual flat rate negotiated by trade organisations. A dance night or a concert (live music or a DJ with a dance floor), however, is a specific use: it triggers a separate declaration, calculated per session, on top of the background flat rate.

The flat rate is not a single figure: it combines several parameters, some driving the SACEM share and others the SPRÉ share. On the SPRÉ side, the minimum annual billing cannot be lower than €119.88 excl. VAT.

The list price can be cut significantly:

• Annual payment rather than monthly or instalment payment.
• Membership of a trade union (UMIH, GHR, etc.) that has signed a protocol with SACEM: this often unlocks a contractual rebate.
• Declared closing periods (weekly closing day, annual holidays, seasonal shutdown): the actual operating period reduces the base.

It is therefore wise to declare your opening days precisely and to attach proof of union membership.

On the equitable-remuneration (SPRÉ) side, several official rebates can stack depending on your situation:

Conversely, failure to declare triggers a minimum statutory billing, applied automatically.

SACEM and SPRÉ royalties are deductible operating expenses, booked to account 651 - Royalties for concessions, patents, licences, trademarks and similar rights (often a sub-account 6516 for authors' and reproduction rights).

The invoice is subject to VAT, in principle at the reduced 10% rate for authors' rights. This VAT is deductible when the venue is VAT-registered, booked to account 44566.

Typical entry for an annual flat rate of €600 excl. VAT (10% VAT):

• Debit 6516 Authors' rights: 600.00
• Debit 44566 Deductible VAT: 60.00
• Credit 401 Supplier SACEM: 660.00

If the flat rate is annual but straddles two financial years, use account 486 - Prepaid expenses to allocate the relevant portion to the correct period.

Consider a bar with a sound-equipped room, a terrace where the music is also audible, and a TV screen showing channels and music videos. Three points to watch:

• The surface playing music includes the terrace if the sound carries there: it must be declared, which raises the flat rate.
• The TV screen is also covered by the royalty: broadcasting television in a public venue is not covered by the household audiovisual licence.
• If this bar runs a karaoke night or a DJ dance night at the weekend, each event requires a specific session declaration.

Note: the public-space occupancy fee for the terrace (set by the municipality) is a completely separate cost, unrelated to SACEM.

The amount is not published to the cent: it results from a tariff combining the sound-equipped surface, the type of venue and the equipment. For a café-bar's background music, the annual flat rate most often runs from a few hundred euros to more than 1,500 €, depending on surface, the presence of a TV set and a dedicated sound system. Three levers cut the bill: annual payment, membership of a trade union (UMIH, GHR) that has signed a protocol, and declaring closing periods. Always ask for a detailed quote and check that the SPRÉ line appears on it, since that is the one most often forgotten.

The background flat rate never covers a live-music event. A concert, a DJ dance night or a karaoke is a specific use requiring a separate session declaration, in principle before the event. You submit the programme of works played (or the track list for a DJ) and pay a right calculated either as a percentage of the night's takings (entries, sometimes drinks) or as a flat rate based on capacity. Anticipate: declaring after the fact exposes you to a surcharge. For a bar that programmes regularly, it is better to build these sessions into the budget.

Many operators assume that a subscription to a professional background-music service (B2B offers such as Spotify, Soundsuit, Radioshop) exempts them from SACEM. It does not. That subscription pays for the streaming service and curation, not the authors' and neighbouring rights: the SACEM-SPRÉ royalty remains due in parallel. Using a consumer subscription (for strictly private use) to play music in a venue also breaches the terms of use and covers no public-performance right. Before signing, check exactly what your provider's contract actually covers.

In principle, the operator of the venue open to the public is liable for background music, because they make the communication to the public day to day. For a one-off event (concert, privatised night, room hire), liability can shift to the organiser of the session, depending on the contract. For a privatisation, set out in writing who declares and who pays: failing that, SACEM turns to the operator, who is identifiable and permanent. This deserves a clause in your privatisation contracts.

SACEM's sworn agents can record the playing of music in a venue open to the public. An undeclared establishment risks a back charge of royalties for the unpaid periods, sometimes with surcharges. The amicable route (regularising and setting up the flat rate) is almost always preferable to litigation. Keep your quotes, invoices and proof of union membership: they secure both the flat-rate calculation and the accounting deduction. An annual review with your café-bar accountant checks the consistency between declared surface, equipment and royalty, alongside the cost of the licence IV and managing the beverage cost.

When an establishment regularises undeclared years, the back charge of royalties relates to the period concerned. The portion attributable to closed financial years is an expense on a prior period, booked to account 651 (and, if it was foreseeable and probable at the closing date, it should have been provisioned). If a dispute concerns the amount, a provision for risks can be set up as long as the debt is not certain in amount. The VAT on the back charge, if the invoice carries any, follows the same deductible treatment as the current flat rate. Documenting the regularisation (SACEM agreement, any payment schedule) secures the deduction and the traceability of the supplier account.

• Forgetting SPRÉ: assuming the authors' rights alone settle everything. Check the equitable remuneration line.
• Not declaring dance nights: the background flat rate never covers a dance night or a concert.
• Under-declaring the surface: forgetting the terrace or the TV screen.
• Confusing SPRÉ and SPEDIDAM: you pay SACEM (the agent), not SPEDIDAM.
• Mis-posting the entry: booking the royalty as ordinary external services instead of account 651, or overlooking deductible VAT.

Reviewing these flat rates annually with your accountant prevents back charges and secures the deduction.