UAE to charge fees from cafes, restaurants and malls for playing music from December

The Ministry of Economy and Tourism (MOET) announced the launch of a guide to collective management of music rights with the aim of regulating the local music market and enhancing community awareness of the system for protecting the rights of authors, innovators and music production companies including composers, songwriters, singers, instrumentalists, sound record producers, and music publishers.

The guide will help establish an integrated framework for managing these rights, ensuring the protection of musical works, preparing a creative environment for talented and innovative people and supporting the growth of the music and creative industries in the country.

Entities and establishments subject to fees for practising music activities

The guide issued by MOET pursuant to its ministerial resolution no. 136 for 2026 regarding the adoption of the guide to collective management of music rights specifies the fees for granting licences to practice collective management activities in the field of music for the concerned categories of entities and establishments in the country.

These include restaurants and cafes, shopping malls, fitness centres, hotels and floating hotels, airlines, radio stations, television channels, concerts and similar events in the country.

Entities concerned with collection

These fees will be applicable from the beginning of December 2026, and the Emirates Arts & Music Rights Association and Music Nation will collect these fees and manage these rights efficiently, transparently and fairly, MOET said.

The two entities already obtained MOET’s licence to practise the activity of collective management of music rights including organizing the collection and distribution of the rights of musical composers in the country.